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AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsJames R. Hager, Larry D. Almsted, Lavell Jordan
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for calibrating a radar altimeter is described. The altimeter provides an angle to a target based on radar energy received at right, left, and ambiguous antennas. The apparatus comprises a turntable on which the radar is mounted, a turntable controller which controls positioning of the radar altimeter, a radar energy source receiving transmit signals from the radar altimeter, a reflector, and a calibration unit. The reflector reflects and collimates radar energy from the radar source towards the radar altimeter. The calibration unit receives an angle from the controller indicative of a position of the radar altimeter with respect to the collimated radar energy and a measured angle from the radar altimeter. The calibration unit calculates a correction based on differences between the angle received from the turntable and the measured angle received from the altimeter and provides the calibration correction to the altimeter.
An apparatus for calibrating an interferometric radar altimeter, the radar altimeter providing an interferometric angle to a target based on radar energy received at a right antenna, a left antenna, and an ambiguous antenna located between the right and left antennas, said apparatus comprising:
A method for determining discrepancies between an orientation of a radar altimeter and a measurement of the orientation by the radar altimeter, the radar altimeter having a plurality of receiving antennas, the discrepancies caused by varying delays in processing the radar returns received at each antenna, said method comprising:
A method for compensating a measured angle to a radar target provided by a radar altimeter, the radar altimeter including a plurality of receive antennas hard mounted to a chassis of the radar altimeter, said method comprising:
A calibration unit receiving a radar measured angle and a turntable angle, the turntable angle indicative of an orientation of a radar altimeter with respect to a collimated radar signal, said calibration unit comprising a software code segment for calculating radar calibration corrections based on a difference between the two received angles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.