696 results about "Altimeter" patented technology

A sports electronic training system with sport ball, and applications thereof, are disclosed. In an embodiment, the system comprises at least one monitor and an electronic processing device for receiving data from the at least one monitor and providing feedback to an individual based on the received data. The monitor can be a motion monitor that measures an individual's performance such as, for example, speed, pace and distance for a runner. Other monitors might include a heart rate monitor, a temperature monitor, an altimeter, et cetera. In an embodiment, a sport ball that includes a motion monitor for monitoring motion of the sport ball stores an identification value received when a shoe that includes a motion monitor contacts the sport ball. The stored identification value serves as a record of the contact.

A sports electronic training system, and applications thereof, are disclosed. In an embodiment, the system comprises at least one monitor and a portable electronic processing device for receiving data from the at least one monitor and providing feedback to an individual based on the received data. The monitor can be a motion monitor that measures an individual's performance such as, for example, speed, pace and distance for a runner. Other monitors might include a heart rate monitor, a temperature monitor, an altimeter, et cetera. Feedback provided to a user typically includes, for example, training information such as whether the user is satisfying specific workout and / or training criteria. In an embodiment, the functionality of the sports electronic training system is enhanced by enabling the portable electronic processing device to interact with other devices and applications, for example, using the Internet.

A system and method for classifying and measuring human motion senses the motion of the human and the metabolism of the human. A motion classification unit determines the motion type being carried out by the human and provides the motion classification information to an energy estimator and a health monitor. The energy estimator also receives the metabolism information and therefrom provides an estimate of energy expended by the human. The health monitor triggers an alarm if health related thresholds are traversed. The motion classification is also provided to a processing unit that in turn provides the data to a Kalman filter, which has an output that is provided as feedback to the motion classification unit, the energy estimator and health monitor. Altimeter, GPS and magnetic sensors may also be provided for monitoring the human motion, and initial input and landmark input data inputs are provided to the system.

A system for determining location of an object, the system including a Master Unit having an RF transceiver and adapted to measure distance to the Tag. The Master Unit has a first input from which it can derive its current position. The Master Unit transmits instructions to the Tag for movement in a predetermined direction. The Master Unit measures distance to the Tag after the movement in the predetermined direction. The Master Unit determines position of the Tag after the movement in the predetermined direction. The Tag can include a compass, a pedometer, and optionally an accelerometer, a solid-state gyroscope, an altimeter inputs for determining its current position by the Master Unit. The Master can optionally include a compass as well as a pedometer, an altimeter, an accelerometer, a solid-state gyroscope, an altimeter and a GPS receiver. Also, the Tag movement does not have to follow the Master's direction. However, the Master Unit still will be able to determine the Tag location(s). Also, the roles of the Master Unit and Tag can be reversed.

Method and calculations determine an individual's, or several individuals' simultaneous rates of oxygen consumption, maximum rates of oxygen consumption, heart rates, calorie expenditures, and METS (multiples of metabolic resting rate) in order to determine the amounts of work that is performed by the individual's body. A heart monitor measures the heart rate, and an accelerometer measures the acceleration of the body along one or more axes. An altimeter measures change in altitude, a glucose monitor measures glucose in tissue and blood, and thermometers, thermistors, or thermocouples measure body temperature. Data including body fat and blood pressure measurements are stored locally and transferred to a processor for calculation of the rate of physiological energy expenditure. Certain cardiovascular parameters are mathematically determined. Comparison of each axis response to the individual's moment can be used to identify the type of activity performed and the information may be used to accurately calculate total energy expenditure for each physical activity. Energy expenditure may be calculated by assigning a separate proportionality coefficient to each axis and tabulating the resulting filtered dynamic acceleration over time, or by comparison with previously predetermined expenditures for each activity type. A comparison of total energy expenditure from the current activity is compared with expenditure from a previous activity, or with a baseline expenditure rate to assess the level of current expenditure. A measure of the individual's cardio-vascular health may be obtained by monitoring the heart's responses to various types of activity and to total energy expended.

A system and apparatus for acquiring images of electric transmission line tower structures, equipment attached to said tower structures, and transmission lines suspended from said towers. The system uses a fixed wing aircraft and an arrangement of at least one still camera, means for detecting a tower structure, a data storage unit, and a central processing unit containing operational software. The central processing unit is connected to the camera, the means for detecting a tower structure, and the storage unit. The detection means is a laser altimeter or a combination of preset longitude / latitude coordinates for tower locations and a GPS unit which supplies continuous longitude / latitude coordinates for the aircraft location for comparison to those preset coordinates. The aircraft is flown along the transmission line at a predetermined altitude above the tops of said towers (60–100 feet). The still camera points rearwardly relative to the line of flight of the aircraft and take a picture from between two adjacent towers and along an exposure line directed downwardly at an angle to the line of flight, 30–60 degrees and preferably 45 degrees. The detecting means transmits a signal to the central processing indicative of the presence of a tower to be photographed. The central processing unit calculates the time delay necessary for said aircraft to fly past the tower to a predetermined exposure point located between the tower to be photographed and the next tower in said transmission line after the tower to be photographed. The still camera is activated at the exposure point to acquire an image of the tower structure. The data corresponding to the acquired image is transmitted to a data storage unit for later retrieval and examination to identify defects in the tower or the equipment or transmission lines suspended form the tower. The system is reset to continue acquiring images along the transmission lines. The system is also provided with a video capability to film the towers and transmission lines and the line right-of-way.

A method and apparatus for operating a mobile gaming system is disclosed. The mobile gaming system establishes areas where mobile gaming is prohibited based on authorized elevations. One embodiment of a mobile gaming device used inconjunction with the system comprises an elevation recognition element to identify the elevation at which the device is being used. The mobile gaming device further comprises a comparator programmed with or configured to receive elevations associated with areas of permitted gaming. The elevation identified by the elevation recognition element registers with the comparator and if a comparison determines that the mobile gaming device is at an elevation where gaming is prohibited, a disabling element operates to disable presentation of a wagering game on the mobile gaming device. In one embodiment, the elevation recognition element is an altimeter.

The invention relates to high integrity MIMU / GPS / micro magnetic compass / pressure altitude gage integrated navigation system. It is made up MIMU subsystem, GPS subsystem, micro magnetic compass subsystem, pressure altitude gage subsystem, and integrated navigation computer used to process subsystem output data and inosculate information to output carrier position, speed, and attitude information. The four subsystems adopt hard ware integrative high grade integration technique. The navigation computer adopts three embedding type microprocessor and has the feature of redundancy multiplexing. The GPS, micro magnetic compass, pressure altitude gage use one microprocessor together to process their algorithm. Navigation algorithm is made up of strap down inertial navigation algorithm, multi velocity model combined filtering algorithm. The invention has the advantages of small volume, low cost, high reliability, fast response speed and high precision. Thus it can be used in micro-miniature flyer precise navigation.

The invention discloses a microminiature personal combined navigation system as well as a navigating and positioning method thereof. The system is composed of a subsystem installed on the foot part of a human body and a subsystem installed on the trunk position, wherein the subsystem installed on the foot part comprises an MEMS IMU (Micro-electromechanical Systems Inertial Measurement Unit), a magnetometer and a communication module; and the subsystem installed on the trunk position comprises a satellite navigation receiver, a Doppler velometer, an atmospheric pressure altimeter, a communication module and a microminiature navigation computer. The positioning method comprises the following steps of: collecting the MEMS IMU signal; modeling and correcting the random error of a gyroscope and an accelerometer; initially aligning an MEMS inertial navigation system; resolving strapdown inertial navigation, and correcting zero speed; carrying out combined navigation of the MEMS inertial navigation system / satellite navigation receiver / the Doppler velometer / the magnetometer / and the atmospheric pressure altimeter; and displaying the navigation result in real time. The microminiature individual combined navigation system is convenient to individually carry, individual real-time gesture fixing, velocity measurement and positioning can be realized, and whole and precise real-time navigation positioning information can be provided for pedestrians, operating personnel, soldiers, rescue workers and the like in the complex electromagnetic environment.

A method of registering reconnaissance image data with map data is disclosed, comprising recording image data at a plurality of positions, together with the role, pitch and height above mean sea level data from an airborne navigation system and imaging system, and recording altitude of a reconnaissance craft from an altimeter; obtaining a difference between said recorded altitude data, and an altitude calculated from said navigation system data and a map data; selecting a difference data having a lowest standard deviation, and at a position of said selected difference data generating a three dimensional surface data using a bi-quadratic equation; generating a bi-quadratic surface of each of a plurality of positions for which data is recorded; generating a difference data between said bi-quadratic surface data, and height data obtained from said map, and minimising an error between bi-quadratic surface data and said height data by translating said position data relative to said map data, until minimum error is achieved; registering said image data with said map data after applying a said translation of said image data.

A system for monitoring a power transmission line of a power grid, including a first comprehensive sensor (402, 502) disposed at the intermediate position of a power transmission line between two towers including an altimeter, a first acceleration sensor, a temperature and humidity sensor and a rainfall sensor; a second comprehensive sensor (404, 504) disposed at the cable connector of the power transmission line including a leakage current sensor, a tension sensor and a wind speed and direction sensor; and a second acceleration sensor (406, 506) disposed at the intermediate position of the power transmission line between the cable connector of the power transmission line and the first comprehensive sensor (402, 502). A method for monitoring a power transmission line of a power grid, including a step of monitoring the sag condition, wind yaw angle, motion and position tracking, flutter conditions, breeze vibration level, fatigue life and icing situation of a power transmission line. The method and system for monitoring a power transmission line of a power grid effectively prevent and reduce incidents of the power transmission line of the power grid based on sensor multi-dimensional sensing technology combined with the advantages of wireless sensor network technology.

The invention discloses an ARM (advanced RISC (reduced instruction set computer) machines) and FPGA (field-programmable gate array) based navigation and autonomous flight control system for an unmanned helicopter. The system comprises a PC (personal computer), an integrated navigation subsystem, a power supply module and controllers, wherein the integrated navigation subsystem comprises a sensor group; the sensor group comprises a GPS (global positioning system), a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a magnetoresistive sensor, a barometric altimeter and a sonar altimeter; the controllers include a main controller and a steering engine controller; the main controller adopts an ARM microprocessor to operate the integrated navigation algorithm and flight control PID (proportion integration differentiation) algorithm and simultaneously completes data acquisition of the GPS, the barometric altimeter and the sonar altimeter; and the steering engine controller adopts an FPGA to realize data acquisition of the gyroscope, the accelerometer and the magnetoresistive sensor and transfers the data to the main controller via a concurrent bus to carry out attitude calculation and control operation on the unmanned helicopter. With the unmanned helicopter as a carrier, the hardware environment of a whole set of flight control system integrating study of the aircraft navigation and control theory problem, data acquisition, information transfer and embedded control is set up.

A system, a method and an apparatus for autonomous monitoring, detecting and tracking of at least one of movement and orientation of a body or portion of a body. The apparatus comprises a device configured to monitor the translational movement and / or rotational movement of the body; and an altimeter including at least one pair of opposed high sensitivity sensors configured to measure changes in height of the body. An alert condition is determined based on the translational and / or rotational movement of the body and changes in height of the body or portion of the body. The alert condition may comprise a hard fall event, a soft fall event, a susceptibility to a fall, or a near fall event.

A portable, handheld electronic navigation device includes an altimeter, a compass, and a GPS unit. An internal memory stores cartographic data, for displaying the cartographic data on a display of the navigation device. Accordingly, the device is capable of displaying cartographic data surrounding a location of the unit as determined by the altimeter. Additionally, through operation of an input, a user can cause the display to move, and thus display additional cartographic information, in the direction of the compass heading even when the user of the device is standing still. Furthermore, through utilization of a clock, such as the GPS clock, a user can determine altitude changes over time. Also, the altimeter of the navigation may be calibrated with altitude information entered by a user, with altitude information obtained from the cartographic or with altitude information derived from GPS.

The invention discloses an integrated navigation system applied to a pilotless aircraft, which adopts a sensor comprising an inertial sensor, a radio altimeter, a communication module, a camera and the like, wherein the inertial sensor is used for acquiring motion acceleration and angular velocity of a carrier, and providing the motion acceleration and the angular velocity for an inertial navigation system and a vision navigation system in the unknown environment for setting up a system equation, thus further providing the current location information and matched trigger signals for scene matching navigation. The method integrates four combination ways which are inertial navigation, cellular wireless location navigation, vision navigation in the unknown environment and the scene matching navigation, and the four combination ways form each subsystem of the integrated navigation system and can be independently used for estimating the state of the aircraft; then, fault diagnosis and fusion estimation are carried out on the data output by the subsystems by a main filter, so that the accurate estimation of the state of the aircraft is obtained.

A system for monitoring medical conditions including pressure ulcers, pressure-induced ischemia and related medical conditions comprises at least one sensor adapted to detect one or more patient characteristic including at least position, orientation, temperature, acceleration, moisture, resistance, stress, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood oxygenation, a host for processing the data received from the sensors together with historical patient data to develop an assessment of patient condition and suggested course of treatment, including either suspending or adjusting turn schedule based on various types of patient movement. The sensor can include one or more of bi-axial or tri-axial accelerometers, magnetometers and altimeters as well as resistive, inductive, capacitive, magnetic and other sensing devices, depending on whether the sensor is located on the patient or the support surface, and for what purpose. In some embodiments, the sensor can be self-contained in that it can detect orientation and suggest repositioning independent of a host.

The invention provides a combined locating and orienting device with lower cost and a combined locating and orienting method thereof. The device mainly includes an MEMS INS consisting of an MEMS IMU and a navigation computer, a GPS receiver, a 3D digital electric compass, an altometer, an aerodromometer, a power module, a box body, a socket connector, etc; wherein, the MEMS INS includes 9 MEMS gyroscopes and 6 double-axis MEMS accelerometers which respectively measure the palstance and the acceleration of a moving carrier; then the palstance and the acceleration are inputted into a navigation calculating program to calculate the information like the pose, the position and the speed of an obtained carrier. Simultaneously, the navigation computer regularly collects the information of the navigation sub-units like the GPS receiver, the 3D digital electric compass, the aerodromometer and the altometer by a 232 series port and obtains the best navigation information like the position, the pose, the speed and the height of the carrier by information fusion processing; the precision of the invention is better than a single sub-system in the device. The combined locating and orienting device with lower cost has the advantages of small size, low power consumption, low cost, complete functions and abundant interfaces, thus being capable of completely meeting the locating and orienting requirements with middle precision for carrying the carrier on the ground or in the air.

The invention provides a general aviation flight monitoring airborne system based on an ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast). The system comprises an airborne ADS-B transceiver based on UAT (Ultra Aperture Terminal)\1090ES (Echo Sounding), a message processor based on the ADS-B and an airborne CDTI (Cockpit Display of Traffic Information) based on the ADS-B. The system provided by the invention has an ADS-B OUT / IN function and can be used for coding information input by an airborne FMS (flight management system), a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), a barometric altimeter and a pilot, generating a message and broadcasting the message; and the system can receive flight status ADS-B messages of other airplanes and ground monitoring messages and separate UAT signals from 1090ES signals by virtue of a UAT data chain and a 1090ES data chain. The system provided by the invention can be used for respectively verifying, storing and parsing the flight status of the other airplanes\ground monitoring messages, messages of a local airplane, heartbeat messages of a host, graphical display navigation information, traffic information of the local airplane and traffic information of the other airplanes within a certain range of the local airplane.

Methods and apparatus are provided for a traffic warning system (TWS) for light aircraft. The TWS comprises a processor coupled to a transceiver, adapted to measure signal strength and send / receive messages containing station ID and preferably altitude and position data. Memory, display and various flight data instruments, such as GPS, altimeter, etc., are also coupled to the processor. The transceiver-processor automatically identifies TWS equipped aircraft within range using an ad-hoc network and exchanges ID and position information. The processor determines range from signal strength and / or received position information and, given enough data, determines direction, altitude, speed, etc., of the other aircraft, which it presents to the pilot. These values and their rate of change are compared to stored alarm thresholds, and the pilot is warned when another aircraft triggers the threshold. Evasive action is recommended where possible.

The invention provides an integrated navigation method and equipment based on multisource information fusion. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining multisource navigation information, namely obtaining navigation related information from one or more of a global satellite navigation system GNSS, an inertial navigation system INS, a multimode region difference augmentation system MLDAS, a pressure altimeter and timekeeping equipment, which are arranged on an aircraft; performing fusion treatment on multisource information by using a federal wave filter, wherein the federal wave filter comprises a main wave filter and a plurality of local wave filters connected with the main wave filter, and each kind of the multisource navigation information and a reference signal are jointly input to one local wave filter; triggering the local wave filters to respectively calculate local estimation values and error covariance matrixes; triggering the main wave filter to perform wave filtering on the reference signal, and performing optimal infusion on the wave filtering results of the reference signal according to output results of the local wave filters and the local wave filters, so as to obtain a global optimum estimation value. Therefore, the availability and the integrity of on-board navigation equipment are improved.

A handheld personal unit that can estimate a user's position in 3-dimensional space by determining a horizontal position and an altitude. GPS or assisted GPS can be used to determine the horizontal position, while barometric pressure assisted altimetry can be used to determine altitude accurately enough to localize the user to a particular floor of a particular building, and many times to a particular room. An artificial intelligence system can access one or more databases to provide data to the user that is related to the user's position in 3-dimensional space. This data can come from a database either stored in the handheld device or stored at a separate remote location. If a remote location is used to provide data and current barometric pressure (and possibly GPS assist), this station can access other remote stations, as needed, to supply the information. The handheld unit and / or the remote station can optionally access the internet to seek information related to the user's location in 3-dimensional space.

The drone comprises: a vertical-view camera (132) pointing downward to pick up images of a scene of the ground overflown by the drone; gyrometer, magnetometer and accelerometer sensors (176); and an altimeter (174). Navigation means determine position coordinates (X, Y, Z) of the drone in an absolute coordinate system linked to the ground. These means are autonomous, operating without reception of external signals. They include image analysis means, adapted to derive a position signal from an analysis of known predetermined patterns (210), present in the scene picked up by the camera, and they implement a predictive-filter estimator (172) incorporating a representation of a dynamic model of the drone, with as an input the position signal, a horizontal speed signal, linear and rotational acceleration signals, and an altitude signal.

The invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, advantangeously a mobile phone. According to the invention, the communication terminal includes a barometric altimeter. The altimeter can be recalibrated using means for determining the horizontal position of the mobile communication terminal, and means for determining the ground level at the horizontal position. The invention relates further to a method of calibrating a barometric altimeter of a mobile communication terminal, in which the horizontal position of the mobile communication terminal is determined, the ground level is determined using the determined horizontal position, the atmospheric pressure is measured at the location of the mobile communication terminal and the determined ground level is used to calibrate the barometric altimeter. Further, the invention relates to a method of determining the altitude of a mobile communication terminal, by establishing the horizontal position of the mobile communication terminal and determining the ground level at the horizontal position.

Methods, systems and devices for monitoring patient orientation, direction, altitude and location to determine the need for turns as well as to detect impending or actual bed exits or falls. A patient-worn sensor communicates with at least one host server through a mesh network of relay antennae to provide data representative of various patient characteristics. The sensor comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a magnetometer and an altimeter, along with optional other sensors. Various user interfaces are provided for managing patient care using the information developed by algorithms processed at the server based on data received from the patient sensors.

Methods, systems and devices for monitoring patient orientation, direction, altitude and location to determine the need for turns as well as to detect impending or actual bed exits or falls. A patient-worn sensor communicates with at least one host server through a mesh network of relay antennae to provide data representative of various patient characteristics. The sensor comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a magnetometer and an altimeter, along with optional other sensors. Various user interfaces are provided for managing patient care using the information developed by algorithms processed at the server based on data received from the patient sensors.

A tactile warning system for warning a helicopter pilot of a pre-selected altitude during a landing maneuver includes a collective control arm for control of the aircraft and a tactile warning device operatively connected to the collective control arm. The system includes a radio altimeter for sensing the actual altitude, a computer and keyboard for inputting a pre-selected height above the ground into the computer memory. A signal generator generates a signal indicative of the actual altitude as the aircraft approaches the ground. Then, when the actual altitude is equal to or less then the pre-selected altitude the system activates the tactile device. The warning system indicative of reaching a pre-selected height is also combined with a tactile warning system for avoiding “hot starts” and for avoiding other dangerous conditions.

A forward looking cross-track laser altimeter comprises: a first configuration of optical elements for guiding pulsed laser beams along a first optical path; a mirror element coupled to a scanner and disposed in the first optical path, the scanner operative to oscillate the mirror element to sweep the reflected laser beams back and forth across a line at a predetermined frequency; the scanner and mirror element configurable to reflect the pulsed laser beams along paths forward and downward at a predetermined angle to the flight path of the aircraft, wherein the pulsed laser beam paths are caused to be line swept across a ground track forward the aircraft; the mirror element for receiving returns of the pulsed laser beams from the terrain and objects on the terrain forward the aircraft and reflecting the returns along a second optical path to a light detector which produces a return signal in response thereto; a first circuit governed by the return signals for measuring times-of-flight of the returns and generating time-of-flight signals corresponding thereto; the scanner for generating a line sweep position signal; and a second circuit for generating for each return a data profile comprising range and line sweep position thereof based on the corresponding time-of-flight and position signals.

The application relates to a fitness monitoring device with an altimeter. The invention describes a biology metering monitoring device and includes various technologies which can be applied in the device. Besides, the technology for being employed by the altimeter in the biology metering monitoring device is provided. In some embodiments, the technologies are provided: re-calibrating the biology metering monitoring device based on position data; employing data of the altimeter as the aid of posture recognition; and / or employing the data of the altimeter to manage an airplane mode of the biology metering monitoring device.