301 results about "Satellite tracking" patented technology

A terrestrial C / A code GPS receiver system digitally samples, filters and stores a segment of 11 half chips of the received composite as a binary number and multiplexes this number for parallel correlation with each of a series of multibit code replicas for the satellites to be tracked. Each of the time delay specific correlation products are accumulated in a cell of a memory matrix so that at least twenty two delays for each satellite may be evaluated each code period providing fast reacquisition, even within a city intersection, as well as correction of multipath tracking and multipath interference. All cells of the memory matrix may be used for a acquisition of a single satellite in about 4 ms. Two satellite tracking, in addition to altitude hold, uses cross track hold alternating with clock hold to update the cross track estimate. Single satellite tracking uses cross track and clock hold together. Navigation data is updated with detected changes in motion including turns.

An energy conserving tracking tag for receiving a radio frequency location data signal from a global positioning satellite and for communicating with a tracking system. The tag includes a receiver circuit for receiving the location data signal from the global positioning satellite, a customer ID module for generating a unique tag identification signal, a transponder circuit for receiving command signals from the tracking system, and a power circuit electrically engageable with a battery power supply and an external power source. The tag also includes a programmable microprocessor in electrical communication with the power circuit, receiver circuit, customer ID module, and transponder circuit. The microprocessor is operative to collect the location data signal, the identification signal, and the command signals, and subsequently produce an composite output signal. The transponder is further operative to transmit the composite output signal to the tracking system by radio carrier wave.

Methods are disclosed for using an Internet server with access to a data base of PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) jurisdiction boundaries and telephone numbers to track the location of a wireless communication device and to determine a PSAP telephone number to call to request emergency services at the location of said wireless communication device using telephone company provided location information. Methods are disclosed for establishing conference call connections between a person, a PSAP and a remote wireless communication device. Also disclosed are methods for establishing an Explicit Call Transfer call connection that redirects a call from a person to a wireless communication device to the telephone of a PSAP having jurisdiction over the location of said remote wireless communication device. Alzheimer tracking devices, offender monitoring devices, medical alert notification devices, satellite tracking devices and child safety telephone embodiments of the current invention are also disclosed.

Antenna and satellite communications assemblies and associated satellite tracking systems that may include a low profile two-way antenna arrangement, tracking systems, and applications thereof. Applications for the system include military, civilian, and domestic emergency response applications. The antenna arrangements may be configured to form a spatial multi-element array able to track a satellite in an elevation plane by electronically dynamically targeting the antenna arrangement and / or mechanically dynamically rotating the antenna arrangements about transverse axes giving rise to generation of respective elevation angles and dynamically changing the respective distances between the axes whilst maintaining a predefined relationship between said distances and the respective elevation angles. The system provides autonomous dynamic tracking of satellite signals and can be used for satellite communications on moving vehicles in a variety of frequency bands for military and civilian applications.

Method and apparatus for locating position of a remote receiver is described. In one example, long term satellite tracking data is obtained at a remote receiver. Satellite positioning system (SPS) satellites are detected. Pseudoranges are determined from the remote receiver to the detected SPS satellites. Position of the remote receiver is computed using the pseudoranges and the long term satellite tracking data. SPS satellites may be detected using at least one of acquisition assistance data computed using a previously computed position and a blind search. Use of long term satellite tracking data obviates the need for the remote receiver to decode ephemeris from the satellites. In addition, position of the remote receiver is computed without obtaining an initial position estimate from a server or network.

A method of communicating satellite tracking information among a network of global navigation satellite system receivers is described. The method includes determining at a first GNSS receiver which satellites in a constellation of satellites have been continuously tracked over a preceding selected time period, and for each such satellite determining its elevation with respect to the zenith. Only the elevation value for the lowest satellite in the set of satellites for which all satellites of higher elevation values have been continuously tracked over the selected time period is then transmitted to the second GNSS receiver. That receiver can then reconstruct the set of satellites which have been continuously tracked.

A method and apparatus for monitoring the integrity of satellite tracking data used by a remote receiver is described. In one example, a first set of satellite tracking data is received at a server. Integrity data for a second set of satellite tracking data is generated using the first set of satellite tracking data. The integrity data is then transmitted to at least one remote receiver having the second set of satellite tracking data.

The invention belongs to the field of video monitoring, and provides a method and device for controlling a linkage-tracking moving target of a monitoring device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving the geographic information data of a moving target, wherein a satellite tracking / positioning device is mounted on the moving target, and the geographic information data is acquired by a satellite positioning / receiving system; according to the geographic information data of the moving target, selecting a monitoring device from a monitoring system camera archive; and tracking the moving target by the monitoring device. According to the invention, through mounting the satellite tracking / positioning device on the moving target, the GIS (geographic information system) data is transmitted in real time, then the monitoring system selects and commands an appropriate monitoring device to track the moving target, and when the moving target is out of the tracking range of the monitoring device, a monitoring system software platform selects another appropriate monitoring device to relay the tracking process according to the information of the moving target, so that the overall tracking on targets can be realized, and a plurality of monitoring devices in a ground monitoring system operates harmoniously, thereby realizing the tracking on the whole monitoring area with larger range and less blind spots.

Antenna and satellite communications assemblies and associated satellite tracking systems that may include a low profile two-way antenna arrangement, tracking systems, and applications thereof. Applications for the system include military, civilian, and domestic emergency response applications. The antenna arrangements may be configured to form a spatial multi-element array able to track a satellite in an elevation plane by electronically dynamically targeting the antenna arrangement and / or mechanically dynamically rotating the antenna arrangements about transverse axes giving rise to generation of respective elevation angles and dynamically changing the respective distances between the axes whilst maintaining a predefined relationship between said distances and the respective elevation angles. The system provides autonomous dynamic tracking of satellite signals and can be used for satellite communications on moving vehicles in a variety of frequency bands for military and civilian applications.

Method and apparatus for using long term satellite tracking data in a remote receiver is described. In one example, long term satellite tracking data is received at a remote receiver from a server. The long term satellite tracking data is used to compute acquisition assistance data in the remote receiver. The remote receiver then uses the acquisition assistance data to acquire satellite signals. The acquired satellite signals may be used to locate position of the remote receiver.

The invention relates to a method for controlling array light beam co-target collimation of a target in a loop based on light spot centroid calculation. The coordinates of the centroid of a light spot on an imaging plane are obtained through a light spot centroid algorithm, a tilt control quantity which needs to be conducted on each light beam is obtained according to the quantitative relation between tilt control of a tilting mirror of the corresponding light beam and a light spot movement vector, and the centroid of the light spot is moved to a target spot of an image device through control over the tilting mirrors. Co-target collimation of all the light beams of the target in the loop is realized through sequential control cover the array light beams. There is no need to accurately describe or obtain a light path, and a control scheme is simple and convenient and easy to implement. The adopted centroid of the light spot serves as a performance evaluation function which is simple, convenient, high in real-time performance, and remarkable in effect, and consumes a short time. The method for controlling array light beam co-target collimation of the target in the loop based on light spot centroid calculation has extensive application prospects in satellite tracking, the directed energy technology and other fields.

A satellite tracking system includes a vehicle having an attitude measuring device for measuring an attitude of the vehicle. An antenna is mounted on the vehicle. An antenna pointing device is coupled to the antenna and points the antenna in a direction dependent upon the attitude measured by the attitude measuring device and a location of a satellite.

A method and apparatus for inhibiting or weakening the development of tropical cyclones by detecting the onset of tropical cyclonic activity using at least one storm tracking weather satellite and using at least one submerged modified nuclear powered submarine to pump cool subsurface water to cool the surface water in the area of such activity. The method and apparatus contemplate moving the submarine with the movement of the tropical cyclone as tracked by satellite with the objective that cooling activity is optimally positioned and unrelenting.

A system and method for generating a navigation solution in high interference and dynamic environments using Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data is described. The system configuration is a multi-satellite tracking loop structure obtained by closing each satellite's tracking loop through a single, multi-state navigation filter. This generates a robust navigation solution that can track GPS signals in a lower signal to noise ratio than can the standard GPS tightly coupled tracking loops. The system contains an Advanced Tightly Coupled (ATC) tracking processor which accepts early, late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPS signal tracker and outputs vehicle to satellite range, range rate and range acceleration residual measurements to a navigation Kalman filter. The ATC includes nonlinear discriminators which transform I and Q data into linear residual measurements corrupted by unbiased, additive, and white noise. It also includes an amplitude estimator configured to operate in rapidly changing, high power noise; a measurement noise variance estimator; and a linear residual smoothing filter for input to the navigation filter.

The present invention concerns an antenna system (100) intended to be embarked on an aircraft, comprising a phase-control array antenna (110) made up of a plurality of polarization-controlled elementary antennas (120), connected to at least one beamformer (151, 152), comprising:a calculator (160) adapted to calculate phase offset values (φV, φH) and attenuation coefficients (αV, αH) from position and attitude information of the aircraft, coordinates of a telecommunications satellite and polarization characteristics of a transponder of said satellite;a polarization control means (130) using said phase offset values and the attenuation coefficients to control the polarization of said elementary antennas.

Provided are a pedestal apparatus and a satellite-tracking antenna having the same. The pedestal apparatus includes: a fixing unit fixed at a moving object; a connecter for forming a first rotating axis vertically to the fixing unit; a first rotation supporter having a bottom fixed at the fixing unit and a Y-shaped top for rotating the tracking antenna around the first rotating axis; a second connecter connected to ends of the Y-shaped top for forming a second rotating axis; a second rotation supporter having both ends connected to the both ends of the second connecter for rotating the tracking antenna around the second rotating axis; a third connecter for forming a third rotating axis at a center of the second rotation supporter; and a supporter connected to the third connecter in a predetermined shape for supporting the tracking antenna, wherein the first, second and third rotating axes are not crossed one another.

Provided is an antenna system for satellite communication and a method for tracking satellite signals using the same, in which moving vehicles or vessels can perform a satellite multimedia communication. The method for tracking a satellite signal using the antenna system includes the steps of: a) setting a satellite signal reception environment by performing an electronic tracking in the elevation direction through an electronic beam steering control and performing a mechanical tracking for driving a rotating element in an azimuth direction; and b) stopping a drive of the rotating element in the azimuth direction, and setting a satellite signal transmission environment by using the satellite signal reception environment. According to the present invention, since both one-dimensional phase array control of the elevation and azimuth and one-dimensional mechanical control are used, it is possible to provide the economical and effective system compared with two-dimensional phase array antenna. Further, the satellite tracking speed performance is improved compared with the two-dimensional mechanically controlled antenna.

A method and apparatus for monitoring the integrity of satellite tracking data used by a remote receiver is described. In one example, a first set of satellite tracking data is received at a server. Integrity data for a second set of satellite tracking data is generated using the first set of satellite tracking data. The integrity data is then transmitted to at least one remote receiver having the second set of satellite tracking data.

A method and apparatus for generating and distributing satellite tracking data to a remote receiver is disclosed. The method for includes extracting from satellite-tracking data initial model parameters representing a current orbit of at least one satellite-positioning-system satellite, computing an orbit model using the initial model parameters, wherein a duration of the orbit model is longer than a duration of the satellite-tracking data, comparing, for an overlapping period of time, the orbit model to the satellite-tracking data; and adjusting the orbit model to match the satellite tracking data for the overlapping period of time so as to form an adjusted orbit model. The adjusted orbit model comprises the long-term-satellite-tracking data.

An improved satellite tracking antenna system mounted to a moving object and a method for operating the same detect and track elevation and azimuth angles of a satellite using only two gyro sensors in a two-axis satellite tracking antenna system, and detect and track an azimuth angle of the satellite using only one gyro sensor in a one-axis satellite tracking antenna system. The antenna system detects the satellite position using two gyro sensors, which are mounted to be orthogonal to each other to a planar axis perpendicular to a satellite-directed target point of the antenna, and continuously tracks the satellite position using a calibration algorithm without using additional absolute angle sensors, resulting in simplified system configuration and reduced production costs.

The pointing of at least two sensors (61, 62) is ensured through a Luneberg lens (50). A first frame (20) pivoting on a support (10), supports in pivoting manner a second frame (30), which can in turn support the lens (50). The second frame (30, 40) supports at least one rail (41) for guiding the sensors in the vicinity of the focal surface of the lens. Control means (90) act on the mount as a function of data concerning the position of satellites to be sighted. They are arranged so as to temporarily stop the sighting of one of the satellites, bring the mount into an opposite position on the focal surface, whilst continually sighting the other satellite, and resume the sighting of both satellites, the two sensors then being in an inverted position on the rail.

Methods and apparatus are provided for reporting quality of GNSS position fixes. A desired quality mode selection is obtained. Position fixes with respective precision estimates and satellite tracking information are obtained. For each of a plurality of position fixes a current positioning quality is determined, based on the precision estimates and satellite tracking information and quality mode selection. Current positioning quality is reported. The quality selection can be a preference of availability over accuracy, or accuracy over availability, or a balance of availability and accuracy.

Antenna and satellite communications assemblies and associated satellite tracking systems that may include a low profile two-way antenna arrangement, tracking systems, and applications thereof. Applications for the system include military, civilian, and domestic emergency response applications. The antenna arrangements may be configured to form a spatial multi-element array able to track a satellite in an elevation plane by electronically dynamically targeting the antenna arrangement and / or mechanically dynamically rotating the antenna arrangements about transverse axes giving rise to generation of respective elevation angles and dynamically changing the respective distances between the axes whilst maintaining a predefined relationship between said distances and the respective elevation angles. The system provides autonomous dynamic tracking of satellite signals and can be used for satellite communications on moving vehicles in a variety of frequency bands for military and civilian applications.

A satellite tracking system for tracking a synchronous satellite includes a satellite antenna system movably supported on a roof of a vehicle via a roof frame to move between an operation position and a folded position. At the operation position, the satellite antenna system is rotated on the roof frame to adjust a horizontal orientation of a parabolic reflector of the satellite antenna system while the parabolic reflector is pivotally lift at a predetermined inclination angle to align with the satellite. At the folded position, the parabolic reflector is pivotally dropped down until the parabolic reflector faces downwardly to the roof of the vehicle to conceal a signal transmitting device of the satellite antenna system between the parabolic reflector and the roof of the vehicle. Therefore, the satellite antenna system provides a relatively low profile at the folded position when the vehicle travels.

Disclosed is a device and method for dynamically adjusting orientation of a satellite antenna carried in a movable carrier, including a satellite tracking system and an adjusting device. The satellite tracking system includes a position processor that receives a group of positioning signals comprising a current coordinate from a group of GPS satellites and retrieve a program signal comprised a preset coordinate among at least one of program satellites, a comparator comparing the current coordinate with a preset coordinate to generate an deviation, and a microprocessor processing the deviation to issue a control signal that is fed to the adjusting device for changing orientation of the antenna to match with that of the program satellite.

The present invention provides apparatus and methods for improving satellite navigation by assessing the dynamic state of a platform for a satellite navigation receiver and using this data to improve navigation models and satellite tracking algorithms. The dynamic state of the receiver platform may be assessed using only accelerometer data, and does not require inertial navigation system integration. The accelerometers may not need to be very accurate and may not need to be aligned and / or accurately calibrated. A method of accelerometer assisted satellite navigation may comprise: detecting a stationary condition of an accelerometer set; gross-calibrating the accelerometer set when in the stationary condition, wherein gross-calibrating includes determining a combined-bias of the accelerometer set; defining at least two acceleration levels using the combined-bias; collecting accelerometer data; categorizing the accelerometer data into one of the acceleration levels; and utilizing the categorized accelerometer data to enhance satellite navigation.

Disclosed is a satellite tracking antenna applied to a satellite tracking antenna system mounted on a vehicle and method using rotation of a subreflector. The antenna includes a reflector controlled to be oriented toward a target satellite, a subreflector for reflecting a signal reflected from the reflector to an entrance end and for identifying relative signals of upper, lower, left, and right sides of the satellite, a subreflector rotating part for rotating the subreflector at a high RPM, a driving device for driving the reflector in at least one of elevation and azimuth directions, and a fixing member for fixing the antenna system on the vehicle. Thus, since the tracking mechanism is realized by operating the elevation and azimuth motors only using the subreflector, the structure of the antenna can be simplified and the satellite tracking is accurately performed.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein to use what is referred to as adaptive continuous tracking (ACT) to reduce the power consumption of GNSS receivers. In GNSS receivers, performance as measured by position accuracy is a function of the observation time of the satellites. A longer observation time translates into more reliable range measurements and demodulated data, and ultimately into better positioning accuracy of the receivers. However, a longer observation time also means more power consumption. ACT allows satellite observation time to be tuned to the desired positioning performance by dynamically adjusting the on time period of the receivers while maintaining a minimum performance metric. The performance metric may be formed from a combination of the estimated position error, the horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP), the data collection state, and the receiver operating environment as characterized by the carrier to noise ratio (CN0). ACT cyclically switches on / off the radio frequency (RF) front-end and also cyclically enables / disables the baseband hardware of the receivers to reduce power consumption while allowing the receivers to meet the minimum performance metric and ensuring continuous satellite tracking, continuous positioning fix operation, multiplexed GNSS operation, and continuous data collection.

The invention discloses a realizing method of a terminal for tracking and positioning, identification, voice video and data transmission of a moving target satellite, in particular to an integrated navigation information system used for completing integrated ship-handling tasks on the basis of an electronic chart. The invention can integrate reckoned ship-position information, satellite positioning and radio navigation system data, chart information, voice information, video information, data information and radar information for processing and display; and the processed result is returned to various control equipment to control or prompt navigating staffs by medias such as images, voices, languages and the like. The invention not only can complete the operations which are carried out on the traditional paper chart and comprise design of intended route, calculation of distance and orientation, reckoning of position modification, positioning calculation, track indication and the like, but also can solve new problems that when the ship enters a danger area, alarming is carried out automatically, the ship avoids rock and prevents shallowness, the superimposing of the electronic chart and the radar images is used for providing more intuitive shockproof information and the chart is modified automatically. The invention can complete the construction of the platforms of the whole set of system.

A system and method for generating a navigation solution in high interference and dynamic environments using Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data is described. The system includes an Advanced Tightly Coupled (ATC) tracking processor for a multi-satellite tracking system. The ATC accepts early, late, and on-time I and Q data from the GPS signal tracker and outputs vehicle-to-satellite range and range rate residual measurements to a navigation Kalman filter. The ATC includes nonlinear discriminators which transform I and Q data into linear residual measurements corrupted by unbiased, additive, and white noise. It also includes an amplitude estimator configured to operate in rapidly changing, high power noise; a measurement noise variance estimator; and a linear residual smoothing filter for input to the navigation filter.