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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8113468 | Precision attitude control system for gimbaled thruster A system for providing attitude control with respect to a spacecraft is provided. The system includes a reaction wheel control module configured to control a number of reaction wheel assemblies associated with the spacecraft in order to control attitude, and a maneu... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8052093 | Control moment gyro and device for assembly thereof The gyrodyne includes an inertial wheel mounted, via a wheel support, on the moving part or rotor of a cardan assembly. The cardan assembly is provided with a stator and the rotor is rotatable with respect to the stator about a first axis of rotation, it being possi... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8038101 | Attitude change control method, attitude change control system, attitude change control program and program recording medium Disclosed is an attitude change control system that is designed to efficiently output a torque for attitude change of a space craft using CMGs and realizes a real time CMG driving rule. A CMG gimbal steering law 15 generates target profiles for setting angle ... | 10/18/2011 |
| 8020809 | Direct torque actuator control for control moment gyroscope A control moment gyroscope system for delivering a target torque to a spacecraft including a rotor assembly having a rotor and a motor to spin the rotor about a rotor axis. A gimbal assembly has a gimbal for supporting the rotor assembly and a gimbal torque motor to... | 09/20/2011 |
| 7988097 | Precision attitude control system for gimbaled thruster A system for providing attitude control with respect to a spacecraft is provided. The system includes a reaction wheel control module configured to control a number of reaction wheel assemblies associated with the spacecraft in order to control attitude, and a maneu... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7721998 | Self-powered spacecraft attitude control system and method A system and method are provided for operating a control moment gyro (CMG) in a spacecraft. The CMG includes a spin motor, and a CMG rotor that is coupled to the spin motor and is configured to rotate about a spin axis. Electrical power from a power source is suppli... | 05/25/2010 |
| 7690602 | Satellite active motion damping Methods and apparatus are provided for active motion damping of a spacecraft whose attitude control system (SACS) has experienced a partial failure. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprises, an attitude control processor (ACP), a motion damping controller ... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7661627 | Method of controlling the attitude of satellites, particularly agile satellites with a reduced number of gyrodynes A method of controlling the attitude of a satellite (1) including two gyrodynes (3,4) and a third main actuator (2) which delivers torques at least along the Z axis. The method includes: fixing the gimbal axes, A1 and A2, of the gy... | 02/16/2010 |
| 7654490 | Precision attitude control system for gimbaled thruster A system for providing attitude control with respect to a spacecraft is provided. The system includes a reaction wheel control module configured to control a number of reaction wheel assemblies associated with the spacecraft in order to control attitude, and a maneu... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7464899 | Method and system for determining a singularity free momentum path A method for avoiding singularities in the movement of CMGs in an array of CMGs in a spacecraft includes a first step where a maneuver command to rotate a spacecraft orientation is received. Then, the torque needed to rotate the spacecraft's orientation is determine... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7407137 | Dual voltage integrated power and attitude control system and method An integrated power and attitude control system and method for a vehicle efficiently supplies electrical power to both low voltage and high voltage loads, and does not rely on relatively heavy batteries to supply power during the vehicle initialization process. The ... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7370530 | Package for MEMS devices A package for packaging one or more MEMS devices is disclosed. A package in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention can include a packaging structure having a base section, a top section, and an interior cavity adapted to contain a number... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7370833 | Method and system for determining a singularity free momentum path A method for avoiding singularities in the movement of a set of collinear CMGs in an array of CMGs in a spacecraft is provided. First, a command to adjust an orientation of the spacecraft is received. Then, the momentum needed from the set of collinear CMGs is deter... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7367529 | Momentum tube for distributed actuation An spacecraft control system is provided that includes a tube and a plurality of microwheels. The plurality of microwheels is disposed within the tube. Each microwheel has a first stator wafer, a second stator wafer, and a rotor wafer disposed therebetween. The firs... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7363717 | System and method for using rotation sensors within a borehole A system and method for using a survey tool within a borehole is provided. The survey tool includes a plurality of rotation sensors each having a sensing axis and a direction of least acceleration sensitivity. The sensing axes of the plurality of rotation sensors ar... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7366613 | RF wireless communication for deeply embedded aerospace systems A wireless communication interface for inertial measurement unit is disclosed. One or more instrumentation sensors, a processor, a wireless radio frequency transceiver with an antenna, and a power source are sealed within an inertial sensor assembly. The processor i... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364120 | Quantized control-moment gyroscope array A momentum actuator for steering a spacecraft is disclosed. The momentum actuator comprises a rotor, a gimbal upon which the rotor is mounted, and a stepper motor coupled to the gimbal and operable to rotate the rotor about the gimbal in a series of steps. In one em... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7357356 | Attitude and antenna steering system for geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) spacecraft A system for providing attitude and antenna steering for a spacecraft is disclosed. The spacecraft has a number of reaction wheels and a number of antennas. The system includes control logic configured to: determine a beta angle, the beta angle being the angle betwe... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7311287 | Methods for incorporating area ruled surfaces in a supersonic aircraft A vertical stabilizer is configured to minimize the rate of change of cross-sectional area distribution of the vehicle or device to which the vertical stabilizer is mounted. One or more “waisted” areas can be included at the tip and/or the root of the vertical s... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7290737 | Nonsurvivable momentum exchange system A demiseable momentum exchange system includes a base and a flywheel rotatably supported on the base. The flywheel includes a web portion defining a plurality of web openings and a rim portion. The momentum exchange system further includes a motor for driving the fl... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7275332 | Multi-axis positioning apparatus An apparatus for supporting a platform (84) relative to a base (82), has first, second, and third flexible shaft couplings (80). Each flexible shaft coupling (80) is mechanically coupled between the platform (84) and the base (8... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7273196 | System for vehicle attitude and/or momentum control A vehicle control system is provided that includes a slat having an axis, a plurality of microwheels disposed on the slat, each microwheel having a first stator wafer, a second stator wafer, and a rotor wafer disposed therebetween, the first and second stator wafers... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7269944 | Hydraulic system for recovering potential energy A hydraulic system may include a hydraulic actuator. The hydraulic system may also include a pump having a pump inlet and a pump outlet, and the pump may be configured to supply fluid to the hydraulic actuator. The hydraulic system may further include an energy reco... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7246776 | Method and system for CMG array singularity avoidance The present method provides a method for avoiding singularities in the movement of CMGs in an array of CMGs in a spacecraft. In a first step, a torque command representing a desired torque to produce an attitude adjustment for the spacecraft is received. Next, a ran... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7248967 | Autonomous velocity estimation and navigation Measurement of a spatial velocity vector in order to make determination of a geographical position possible. A spatial velocity meter includes an inertial measurement unit, a direction-sensing module and a velocity processor. The inertial measurement unit registers ... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7241103 | Method and system for adjusting a position of an object According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting a position of an object to compensate for tilt includes providing a rotatable base supporting an object and directing the object relative to the base such that the position of the object is... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7225550 | System and method for using microgyros to measure the orientation of a survey tool within a borehole A system and method for determining an orientation of the survey tool within a borehole utilizes a survey tool including a plurality of rotation sensors each having a sensing axis and a direction of least acceleration sensitivity. The plurality of rotation sensors a... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7216036 | Integrated inertial stellar attitude sensor An integrated inertial stellar attitude sensor for an aerospace vehicle includes a star camera system, a gyroscope system, a controller system for synchronously integrating an output of said star camera system and an output of said gyroscope system into a stream of ... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7198232 | Optimal speed management for reaction wheel control system and method A spacecraft attitude control system and method in which an attitude controller is configured for sensing three-dimensional attitude of the spacecraft, and producing torque signals for stabilizing the spacecraft in a prescribed attitude in space. At least four mutua... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7185855 | Method and system for steering a momentum control system A momentum-control system comprising a plurality of momentum actuators and a platform upon which the plurality of momentum actuators are mounted. The momentum control system further comprises a plurality of active struts mounted on the bottom side of the platform. T... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7188008 | System for controlling the operation of at least one aircraft engine A system for supervising the speed of at least one engine of an aircraft includes three independent information sources determining first, second and third values for an aerodynamic parameter of the aircraft and precision information indicating the precision of thes... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7185848 | Mass transfer system for stabilizing an airship and other vehicles subject to pitch and roll moments The invention relates to a mechanism to control the pitch and/or roll and/or center of gravity of a vehicle. The first embodiment is a track-based mass transfer system in which pathways are positioned along or radially terminate at a central horizontal plane of the ... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7185858 | Spacecraft gyro calibration system A method of calibrating a gyro (42) of a spacecraft (14) may include determining a yaw attitude residual of the spacecraft. Roll gyro bias residual is determined in response to the yaw attitude residual. The gyro (42) is calibrated in response t... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7171290 | Method and device for controlling satellite attitude and steering using a gyrodyne cluster In order to control the attitude of a satellite having at least four gyroscopic actuators with respective spinners mounted on gimbals steerable about axes parallel to one or the other of only two different directions that are fixed relative to the satellite, the att... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7152495 | System and method for adaptive cancellation of disturbances A disturbance-cancellation system and method is provided that facilitates the adaptive cancellation of periodic disturbances. The disturbance-cancellation system and method includes a pair of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) arranged together as a scissored pair. Th... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7149610 | Momentum estimator for on-station momentum control A method and apparatus for estimating spacecraft momentum is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of generating a plurality of spacecraft momentum measurements, fitting the plurality of spacecraft momentum measurements to a parametric model of a spacecraft mome... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7143982 | Dynamic yaw steering method for spacecrafts A method for yaw steering a spacecraft including performing yaw steering of the spacecraft to have a yaw angle (ψ) for all sun elevation angles (β). The method further including smoothing a yaw steering motion for orbital position parameters (η) where high rotati... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7130744 | Method for determining and compensating the scale factor error caused by a wavelength change in a GPS-based inertial navigation system In a GPS-supported inertial attitude and heading reference system equipped with a Kalman correction filter and a multiple axis fiber optic gyroscope, the invention provides for only that scale factor error which is determined for the measurement axis (e.g. the verti... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7119520 | Energy storage flywheel test control system A system and method for removing energy from the rotating group in an energy storage flywheel system during flywheel system testing includes one or more sensors is operable to sense operational parameters of the energy storage flywheel and to supply a sensor signals... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7117605 | System and method for using microgyros to measure the orientation of a survey tool within a borehole A system and method for determining an orientation of the survey tool within a borehole utilizes a survey tool including a plurality of rotation sensors each having a sensing axis and a direction of least acceleration sensitivity. The plurality of rotation sensors a... | 10/10/2006 |
