Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for determining aircraft position and velocity

US4671650A · kind A · utility

65Cited by
32References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 14, 1984
Grant dateJun 9, 1987
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 14, 2004

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01P3/806
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus and method for determining aircraft position and velocity is disclosed. The system includes two CCD sensors which take overlapping front and back radiant energy images of front and back overlapping areas of the earth's surface. A signal processing unit digitizers and deblurs the data that comprise each image. The overlapping first and second front images are then processed to determine the longitudinal and lateral relative image position shifts that produce the maximum degree of correlation between them. The signal processing unit then compares the first and second back overlapping images to find the longitudinal and lateral relative image position shifts necessary to maximize the degree of correlation between those two images. Various correlation techniques, including classical correlation, differencing correlation, zero-mean correction, normalization, windowing, and parallel processing are disclosed for determining the relative image position shift signals between the two overlapping images. The front longitudinal relative image position shift signal, the front lateral relative image position shift signal, the back longitudinal relative image position shift signal an…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.