Attitude determining system for use with global positioning system

Claim 1

A system employing telemetry and other electronic signals provided by a series of orbiting satellites to provide a real-time solution of direction of travel; and attitude, which is comprised of heading, pitch, and roll, of a platform on which said system is located, said system comprising: antenna array means comprising at least two discrete antennae, each antenna forming at least one baseline with another of said antenna, said antenna array adapted to collect said telemetry and electronic signals transmitted by the series of orbiting satellites, wherein said discrete antennae are spaced such that the length of at least one of said baselines is less than the carrier wavelength being received from said orbiting satellites; receiver means electrically communicating with each said discrete antenna, and adapted to interpret telemetry and electronic signals collected by said antenna array means; mathematical algorithmic comparing means adapted to comparing information received from each said receiver means, to calculate heading, pitch, and roll and to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals, wherein said algorithmic comparing means further includes a coarse attitude determining means for determining a first, general attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and a fine attitude determining means for improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°, which occurs within the same solution time-frame, said algorithmic comparing means further including a satellite selecting regime for selecting one or more preferred satellites from among said series of orbiting satellites, and wherein said attitude is determined by carrier phase interferometry; and microprocessor means for processing said information with said algorithm to accurately determine the attitude, heading, pitch, and roll of the platform.

Claim 2

A system employing telemetry and other electronic signals provided by a series of orbiting satellites to provide a real-time solution of direction of travel; and attitude, which is comprised of heading, pitch, and roll, of a platform on which said system is located, said system comprising: antenna array means comprising at least two discrete antennae, each antenna forming at least one baseline with another of said antenna, said antenna array adapted to collect said telemetry and electronic signals transmitted by the series of orbiting satellites, wherein said discrete antennae are spaced such that the length of at least one of said baselines is less than the carrier wavelength being received from said orbiting satellites; receiver means electrically communicating with each said discrete antenna, and adapted to interpret telemetry and electronic signals collected by said antenna array means; mathematical algorithmic comparing means adapted to comparing information received from each said receiver means, to calculate heading, pitch, and roll and to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals, wherein said algorithmic comparing means further includes a coarse attitude determining means for determining a first, general attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and a fine attitude determining means for improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°, which occurs within the same solution time-frame, said algorithmic comparing means further including a satellite selecting regime for selecting one or more preferred satellites from among said series of orbiting satellites, and wherein said attitude is determined by carrier phase interferometry; and microprocessor means for processing said information with said algorithm to accurately determine the attitude, heading, pitch, and roll of the platform.

Claim 12

A system for calculating the location, attitude, and direction of a platform, said system comprising: means adapted to collect and receive telemetry and other electronic signals transmitted at a preselected wavelength from a plurality of earth orbiting satellites, said collecting and receiving means comprising at least three antenna, each antenna electrically communicating with a receiver; satellite selection means embedded in a microprocessor and adapted to select at least four satellites from among the plurality of orbiting satellites from which to receive telemetry; error correcting means embedded in said microprocessor to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals attributable to said antennae and the location of said satellites; and an algorithm employing double differenced carrier phase interferometry to determine location, attitude and direction of travel based upon the telemetry and electronic signals received from said selected satellites, wherein said algorithm further includes a coarse attitude determining means for determining a first, general attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and a fine attitude determining means for improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°.

Claim 13

A system for calculating the location, attitude, and direction of a platform, said system comprising: means adapted to collect and receive telemetry and other electronic signals transmitted at a preselected wavelength from a plurality of earth orbiting satellites, said collecting and receiving means comprising at least three antenna, each antenna electrically communicating with a receiver; satellite selection means embedded in a microprocessor and adapted to select at least four satellites from among the plurality of orbiting satellites from which to receive telemetry; error correcting means embedded in said microprocessor to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals attributable to said antennae and the location of said satellites; and an algorithm employing double differenced carrier phase interferometry to determine location, attitude and direction of travel based upon the telemetry and electronic signals received from said selected satellites, wherein said algorithm further includes a coarse attitude determining means for determining a first, general attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and a fine attitude determining means for improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°.

Claim 22

A method of determining location, attitude, and direction of travel information from signals transmitted from one or more earth orbiting satellites, said method comprising the steps of: providing means adapted to collect and receive telemetry and other electronic signals transmitted at a preselected wavelength from said plurality of earth orbiting satellites, said collecting and receiving means comprising at least three antenna, each antenna electrically communicating with a receiver; providing an algorithm imbedded in a microprocessor, said algorithm employing carrier phase interferometry to interpret said received telemetry and electronic signals, said algorithm comprising: satellite selection means embedded in said microprocessor and adapted to select at least four satellites from among the plurality of orbiting satellites from which to receive telemetry; and error correcting means embedded in said microprocessor to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals; relaying information received by said antenna and receiver to said microprocessor for calculation of attitude, location, and direction of travel information by said algorithm; establishing a first coarse measurement of attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and subsequently establishing a second, fine measurement of attitude improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°; and displaying attitude, location, and direction of travel information on an output device.

Claim 23

A method of determining location, attitude, and direction of travel information from signals transmitted from one or more earth orbiting satellites, said method comprising the steps of: providing means adapted to collect and receive telemetry and other electronic signals transmitted at a preselected wavelength from said plurality of earth orbiting satellites, said collecting and receiving means comprising at least three antenna, each antenna electrically communicating with a receiver; providing an algorithm imbedded in a microprocessor, said algorithm employing carrier phase interferometry to interpret said received telemetry and electronic signals, said algorithm comprising: satellite selection means embedded in said microprocessor and adapted to select at least four satellites from among the plurality of orbiting satellites from which to receive telemetry; and error correcting means embedded in said microprocessor to reduce errors inherent in said received telemetry and electronic signals; relaying information received by said antenna and receiver to said microprocessor for calculation of attitude, location, and direction of travel information by said algorithm; establishing a first coarse measurement of attitude, with accuracy between about +/-30°, and subsequently establishing a second, fine measurement of attitude improving the accuracy of said first determination to within about +/-0.5°; and displaying attitude, location, and direction of travel information on an output device.