Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7412324 | Flight management system with precision merging The present invention is a flight management system with precision merging that may determine a rejoin turn location based upon a heading to allow proper spacing between an aircraft and an identified target aircraft. The flight management system may monitor for devi... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7363145 | Ground operations and imminent landing runway selection A method, computer program product and apparatus for locating aircraft with respect to airport runways, generating and annunciating imminent landing situational awareness advisories as a function of aircraft height above runway. ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7302316 | Programmable autopilot system for autonomous flight of unmanned aerial vehicles A system and method for providing autonomous control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is disclosed. The system includes a ground station in communication with an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method for providing autonomous control of a UAV includes methods for pro... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7209053 | System and method for displaying validity of airport visual approach slope indicators An improved system and method are disclosed for indicating the validity of airport runway visual approach slope indicators on an aircraft display. An aircraft display system is provided, which includes a database for storing data about the specific visual approach s... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7196621 | Tracking system and associated method A tracking system (10) for tracking movable assets (16) and several methods for using the system are provided. The tracking system includes a monitoring device (22), a tracking information network (20), a data communication network (18... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7136011 | System for avoidance of collision between an aircraft and an obstacle A field unit for warning of a danger of collision between an aircraft and an obstacle, in particular a topographical ground obstacle or an obstacle formed by a mast, building or aerial cable structure, comprises a multi-part tubular mast having devices for fixing a ... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7130449 | Method and system for ground imaging A system and method for determining the slope of a ground imaged area. The system includes a camera, a memory, and a processor. The camera generates a first and a second image of an area of ground from an aircraft. The memory stores bi-directional characteristic inf... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7070148 | Aerodynamic component for controlling a landing guide path of an aircraft An aerodynamic including a main body and a control member. The main body is configured to be connected to a wing of an aircraft. The control member is connected to the main body, the control member including a fixed member secured to the main body and a pivotable me... | 07/04/2006 |
| 6992597 | Symbology for representing aircraft position A symbology system uses programmable software in a computerized system interacting with the altitude, attitude, air speed, and other flight indicators of an aircraft to create symbology in the pilot's display seen in the field of view of the pilot. The symbology rep... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6950036 | Station identification for a local area augmentation system on a visual display An aircraft on-board system for communicating with a ground-based radio transmitter forming a part of a Local Area Augmentation System for aiding in the navigation and landing of the aircraft, comprising a radio receiver adapted to receive signals, including identif... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6946975 | Uniformly lighted airfield guidance sign An airfield guidance sign. The sign 100 (of FIG. 1a) includes a case (102), a multi-element light source (114) attached to the case (102) for providing light interior to the case (102), a light dispersion subsystem of the ca... | 09/20/2005 |
| 6940427 | Pitch alerting angle for enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) A ground proximity warning system including a pitch angle alerting device, the pitch angle alerting device including warning logic having an input that is structured to receive a signal that is representative of the indicated pitch angle of the aircraft, the warning... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6927701 | Runway occupancy monitoring and warning Techniques are described for monitoring runway occupancy and providing an indication of occupancy of a runway to an airplane on final approach the runway. A system, for example, defines and monitors one or more zones on the runway to determine whether the runway is ... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6900742 | Light control module for aviation obstruction marking The present invention involves a lighting control module for at least one aviation obstruction light including a microcontroller, and switching means for selectively coupling the aviation obstruction light to a power source, the microcontroller coupled to the switch... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6876905 | Aircraft data transmission system for wireless communication of data between the aircraft and ground-based systems A device to enable automatic wireless communication with an aircraft after the aircraft has parked at a gate. A terminal cellular bridge (TCB) enables the retrieval of data from, and the sending of data to the aircraft by an internet service provider. The internet s... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6794994 | Aerially deployable marking device An aerially deployable position marking device includes an elongated housing, a handle secured to the housing, a ground engaging portion at or adjacent the lower end of the housing and at least one locating element which may take the form of visibility enhancing ele... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6629023 | Method for performing an automated category a approach maneuver A method for automating a landing maneuver for an aircraft, comprising the steps of generating an approach profile comprising an initial approach fix (IAF), a flight path, a landing decision point, a balked landing route, a pre-landing point, and a landin... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6438469 | Flight control system and method for an aircraft circle-to-land maneuver A flight control system and method for controlling a circle-to-land ("CTL") maneuver utilizes an airborne area navigator. The area navigator receives inputs on aircraft category, aircraft position and speed, airport navigation data and pilot supplied data... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6405107 | Virtual instrument pilot: an improved method and system for navigation and control of fixed wing aircraft A self contained electronic system for manual or automatic control and navigation of fixed winged aircraft using electronic position sensing such as GPS, DGPS, WAAS, and the like, as the primary sensor and making use of known flight characteristics of the... | 06/11/2002 |
| 6282488 | Airport surface movement guidance and control system An airport surface movement guidance and control system (SMGCS) involving detection, integrated processing and graphical display of the relevant, in particular the safety-relevant, positions and movements of aircraft, and optionally, vehicles, on airside ... | 08/28/2001 |
| 6157876 | Method and apparatus for navigating an aircraft from an image of the runway An image sensor attached to an aircraft generates an image. The image includes a runway and other objects. The edges within the image are detected and Nav Data is used to predict the coordinates defining the runway. The predicted coordinates and the detec... | 12/05/2000 |
| 6119055 | Real time imaging system and method for use in aiding a landing operation of an aircraft in obscured weather conditions An imaging apparatus for aiding landing of aircraft in weather conditions obscuring a pilot's view of a runway. The apparatus comprises a plurality of LED assemblies which are disposed along the runway. Each LED assembly includes a plurality of LEDs, a re... | 09/12/2000 |
| 5949353 | Wake turbulence avoidance lights A wake turbulence avoidance light system is provided including an aircraft runway with a periphery including a pair of long parallel side edges and a pair of short end edges. Also included is a plurality of light assemblies mounted along at least one of t... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5842142 | Least time alternate destination planner An alternate destination planner for searching a navigation database in an aircraft and identifying a plurality of alternate destinations at which the aircraft can land in the event of an emergency. For each identified alternate destination, the alternate... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5786773 | Local-area augmentation system for satellite navigation precision-approach system An aircraft local-area augmentation system that employs a differential global positioning system (GPS) to assist aircraft (102) landing is disclosed. One or more GPS ground stations (120), each including at least two GPS receivers (122) and a datalink tra... | 07/28/1998 |
| 5751226 | Taxiway marker A marker comprises a metal sheet bent to curve about an axis and forming, in sector perpendicular to said axis a hairpin turn and where there are median extents on each side, approximating in the sheet planar panels, defining an angle of 0°-30° to each ... | 05/12/1998 |
| 5712785 | Aircraft landing determination apparatus and method An aircraft landing determination apparatus and method for determining landing status of an aircraft by tracking arriving aircrafts and providing a unique runway assignment therefor. The aircraft landing determination apparatus includes a target processor... | 01/27/1998 |
| 5687930 | System and components useful in landing airborne craft An improved system is provided suitable for use in landing an aircraft (for example, helicopter, RPV, VTOL) on shipboard comprising a support, base, platform or housing, reciprocal from remote a landing area on the deck of a ship to a position proximate t... | 11/18/1997 |
| 5592159 | Control system for a flight vehicle A control system includes at least one guiding device including a long range guiding water jet generator having a plurality of first nozzles each projecting a jet of water upwardly and a first illumination apparatus projecting a plurality of beams of ligh... | 01/07/1997 |
| 5343395 | Aircraft landing guidance system and method An aircraft navigational facilitation system (20) and method of use thereof operates in conjunction with conventional apparatus which provides aircraft current situational information. The system includes a memory (22) for storing runway and landing infor... | 08/30/1994 |
| 5321615 | Zero visibility surface traffic control system Guide elements along paths and turns of a network emit guide signals for guiding vehicles along the paths and through the turns. Control elements, located at points in the network at which the locomotion of approaching vehicles may need to be controlled, ... | 06/14/1994 |
| 5123615 | System and components useful in landing airborne craft An improved system is provided suitable for use in landing an aircraft (for example, helicopter, RPV, VTOL) on shipboard comprising a support, base, platform or housing, reciprocal from remote a landing area on the deck of a ship to a position proximate t... | 06/23/1992 |
| 4667196 | Active visual display system for remote three-axis flight path guidance of landing aircraft An active, electro-optical display system for use on fixed-wing, land-based airport runways, is disclosed for remotely guiding a pilot during visual approach and landing of an aircraft. Conventional Microwave Landing System (MLS) ground-transmitted data i... | 05/19/1987 |
| 4590471 | Electroluminescent (EL) remotely-controlled landing zone marker light system A remotely-controlled lighting system for austere landing zone lighting includes a plurality of light units each having dual electroluminescent light panels, a plurality of remote controllers each having an electrical receiver, and a separate electrical t... | 05/20/1986 |
| 4554543 | Glide slope indicator system A glide slope indicator system in which light from an incoming aircraft's landing light is shaped by spherical/cylindrical lens combination into a line image which strikes a linear photodiode array. By determining which photodiode in the array the center ... | 11/19/1985 |
| 4313063 | Airport lighting sequence control An airport lighting system is provided with a plurality of groups of lights, each light group being assigned to a specific taxiway. The system further includes a selector switch to control a plurality of relay circuits for selecting and reselecting the li... | 01/26/1982 |
| 4272766 | Radio operated remote control A radio operated remote control unit for attachment to a transmitter and having a second module attached to a transreceiver, which, through the use of a dual tone multi frequency signal, turns on the lights, or similar work, and maintains that status for ... | 06/09/1981 |
| 3935557 | Ground position indicator system A ground position indicator system for crop dusting and other operations requiring air-to-ground coordination which includes a transmitter located within an aircraft, or on the ground, a receiver positioned on the ground and fitted with an antenna for rec... | 01/27/1976 |
