Vehicle guidance system

Claim 1

AN AUTOMATIC GUIDANCE SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AN AIRCRAFT IN FLIGHT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SPACED CHECK POINT REFERENCE MAP INFORMATION COMPRISING SENSOR MEANS FOR RECOGNIZING THE TERRAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND CONVERTING SAID CHRACTERISTICS INTO INSTANTANEOUS PRESENT MAP INFORMATION, A MAP MATCHER CONNECTED TO THE SENSOR MEANS TO RECEIVE THE MAP INFORMATION INCLUDING MEANS TO COMPARE THE MAP INFORMATION WITH THE REFERENCE MAP INFORMATION AND TO PRODUCE LATERAL ERROR OUTPUT SIGNALS WHICH ARE A FUNCTION OF THE COMPARED INFORMATION, LATERAL POSITION COMPUTER MEANS CONNECTED TO THE MAP MATCHER TO RECEIVE THE LATERAL ERROR OUTPUT SIGNALS AND OPERABLE TO COMPUTE AND CREATE LATERAL POSITION AND HEADING CORRECTION SIGNALS FOR DIRECTING THE AIRCRAFT TOWARD THE NEXT SUCCESSIVE SPACED CHECK POINT, AN AUTO PILOT CONNECTED TO THE LATERAL POSITION COMPUTER MEANS RECEIVING THE CORRECTION SIGNALS THEREFROM A GUIDE THE AIRCRAFT TO THE NEXT SUCCESSIVE SPACED CHECK POINT, AND COMPASS MEANS PROVIDING THE AUTO PILOT WITH SELECTED HEADING INFORMATION, AND LONGITUDINAL COMPUTER MEANS FOR SEQUENTIALLY ENERGIZING THE SENSOR MEANS AND MAP MATCHER FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME AS THE AIRCRAFT PASSES OVER EACH SUCCESSIVE CHECK POINTS.