Method for determining the heading of an aircraft
US4930085A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 15, 1987 |
| Grant date | May 29, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 15, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01C21/165
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A method is disclosed for determining the heading of an aircraft which is equipped with both an inertial navigation system and a device capable of receiving navigation satellite signals and computing the aircraft's position, speed and acceleration therefrom. While the aircraft is still on the ground and before flight operations begin, an initial alignment of the inertial navigation system with an earth-fixed coordinate system is performed, and during this alignment, data corresponding to the initial attitude of an aircraft-fixed coordinate system relative to the earth-fixed coordinate system is also determined and stored. Thereafter, during flight operations, the acceleration vector of the aircraft relative to the aircraft-fixed coordinate system is measured by the inertial navigation system and then transposed into a coordinate system which has been horizontally aligned with the earth-fixed system using the initial attitude data. second acceleration vector, corresponding to the acceleration of the aircraft in the earth-fixed system, is computed using the navigation satellite system. The aircraft's heading is then determined by computing the difference, i.e., the angle between, the…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.