High altitude platform control system
AssigneeHughes Electronics Corporation
InventorDavid W. Lloyd
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for controlling a movable appendage on an aerospace vehicle independent from the position of the aerospace vehicle. First and second beacons containing actual position information for the movable appendage are tracked and acquired by first and second beacon tracking sites. The beacon tracking sites report the azimuth and elevation data relating to the position of the movable appendage to a processor where a correction command is determined based on an error calculated from the position data and a desired position. The correction command is communicated to the movable appendage so that appropriate correction to the desired position can be made.
Claims6
A stratospheric platform communications system having beam forming capability, said system comprising:
- a stratospheric aircraft;
- a movable platform on said stratospheric aircraft;
- first and second downlink beacons generated by said beam forming capability, said first and second downlink beacons having actual position information for said movable platform;
- a first tracking site for acquiring and tracking said first beacon;
- a second tracking site spaced a predetermined distance from said first tracking site, said second tracking site for acquiring and tracking said second beacon;
- and
- a processor in communication with said first and second beacon tracking sites and said movable platform, said processor for receiving actual position information from said first and second tracking sites to calculate an error between said actual position and a desired position, said error being used by said processor to calculate a correction command that is sent to said movable platform.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.