Patents Represented by Attorney Derrick Michael Reid
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Patent number: 7045246Abstract: One or more thin film battery cells are embedded in a multilayer thin film flexible circuit board supporting electronic devices, such as power regulators, for forming an integrated battery and circuit module. The module can be made using conventional thin film processes. The module is well suited for applications where size and space limitations, such as on spacecraft or credit cards, require the use of ultra thin power sources integrated with respective electronic devices and printed circuits.Type: GrantFiled: April 22, 2003Date of Patent: May 16, 2006Assignees: The Aerospace Corporation, SRS Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Edward J. Simburger, James H. Matsumoto, Paul A. Gierow, Aloysius F. Hepp
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Patent number: 7042930Abstract: A multiple integration hypothesis C/A code acquisition system resolves bit boundaries using parallel correlators providing magnitude hypotheses during acquisition to reduce losses over the 20 ms integration period to improve the performance and sensitivity of C/A code receivers to achieve low C/No performance using inexpensive, imprecise oscillators and long noncoherent dwell periods, well suited for in-building, multipath, and foliage attenuated GPS signaling applicable to E911 communications with several dB of additional improvement in receiver sensitivity due to the ability to detect bit synchronization during acquisition.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2002Date of Patent: May 9, 2006Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Philip A. Dafesh
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Patent number: 7005713Abstract: An annular segment MOSFET structure has reduced drain electric fields for a given applied voltage and dimensional sizing for improved reliability from damage by reducing high energy hot carriers laterally traversing the channel by reducing the intensity of electric fields in the MOSFET structure by creating diverging electric field lines with decreased electric field strength at the drain, while enabling compact integrated layouts of multiple MOSFETs within a square area of surface silicon.Type: GrantFiled: December 1, 2003Date of Patent: February 28, 2006Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Donald C. Mayer, Jon V. Osborn, Ronald C. Lacoe, Everett E. King
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Patent number: 6983792Abstract: An isosceles triangular cross section shaped microchannel-cooling device conducts a working fluid for the removal of heat from a heat source. The triangular shaped microchannel provides an increased thermal transport coefficient for improved heat transport with an improved mass flow rate. The microchannel-cooling device is well suited for removing heat from electronics, semiconductor components, and systems.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2002Date of Patent: January 10, 2006Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: James Todd Dickey, Tung Ting Lam
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Patent number: 6952969Abstract: A mechanical test method prescribes compressing brittle balls in spherical conforming opposing platens producing equatorial bulging, tensile stresses, and resulting indentation crack growth that is imaged for providing direct measurement of the fracture toughness of brittle balls, such as, silicon-nitride balls used in hybrid bearings as well as conventional steel ball bearings, with measurement errors being immune to characterizing the dimensions and positioning of the precrack indentations, so that, the test method is accurate, repeatable, and robust.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2003Date of Patent: October 11, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Michael James O'Brien, Benjamin Allen Nelson
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Patent number: 6952530Abstract: Integrated glass ceramic spacecraft include a plurality of glass ceramic components including molded, tempered, annealed, and patterned glass ceramic components coupled together for forming a support structure or frame or housing through which is communicated optical signals through an optical communications grid and electrical signals through an electrical communications grid, with the optical communications grid and electrical communication grid forming a composite electrooptical communications grid for spacecraft wide intercommunications. The support structure multifunctions as a frame, a housing, a support, a thermal control system, and as part of an electrooptical communications grid while encapsulating a plurality of optical, electronic, electrical, and MEMS devices between which is communicated the electrical and optical signals over the electrooptical communication grid.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2003Date of Patent: October 4, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Henry Helvajian, Siegfried W. Janson
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Patent number: 6945499Abstract: A tethered spacecraft is tethered to a base using a semirigid stand-off and a moving tether operated as a belt drive and operated in tension so that the tethered is precisely positioned in tension from the base spacecraft.Type: GrantFiled: March 19, 2004Date of Patent: September 20, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Ernest Y. Robinson
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Patent number: 6932933Abstract: A laser direct write method creates true three dimensional structures within photocerams using an focused pulsed ultraviolet laser with a wavelength in a weakly absorbing region of the photoceram material. A critical dose of focused laser UV light selectively exposes embedded volumes of the material for subsequent selective etching. The photoceram material exposure is nonlinear with the laser fluence and the critical dose depends on the square of the per shot fluence and the number of pulses. The laser light is focused to a focal depth for selective volumetric exposure of the material within a focal volume within the remaining collateral volumes that is critically dosed for selecting etching and batch fabrication of highly defined embedded structures.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2001Date of Patent: August 23, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Henry Helvajian, Peter D. Fuqua, William W. Hansen
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Patent number: 6918254Abstract: A two-phase thermodynamic power system includes a capillary device, vapor accumulator, superheater, an inline turbine, a condenser, a liquid pump and a liquid preheater for generating output power as a generator. The capillary device, such as a loop heat pipe or a capillary pumped loop, is coupled to a vapor accumulator, superheater, the inline turbine for generating output power for power generation, liquid pump and liquid preheater. The capillary device receives input heat that is used to change phase of liquid received from the liquid preheater, liquid pump and condenser into vapor for extra heating in the superheater used to then drive the turbine. The power system is well suited for space applications using a radioisotope, active nuclear or solar heat source. The system can use waste heat from various dynamic or static power systems as a heat source and waste heat from spacecraft components such as electronics as a heat source. These heat sources can be used separately or in any combination.Type: GrantFiled: October 1, 2003Date of Patent: July 19, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Karl William Baker
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Patent number: 6914931Abstract: A GPS receiver receives GPS spread spectrum communication signals subject to carrier demodulation and code phase autocorrelation using tightly coupled Kalman filter residual estimation based on Ricatti matrix computation for generating code phase errors and carrier phase errors for improved code phase tracking and carrier phase tracking in feedback loops for use in navigation systems.Type: GrantFiled: September 26, 2001Date of Patent: July 5, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Randal K. Douglas, Anthony S. Abbott
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Patent number: 6910071Abstract: A surveillance monitoring and automated reporting method is used for detecting observable changes in data sources over a network, such as the internet, for accessing changing data, such as world wide web content data, and for providing scheduled change detection notifications and results through user defined search criteria for automated monitored search criteria matches on a recurring basis by user defined scheduling. The method extracts content data from the data sources and updates a master database, then detects changes in the content data within the search criteria. Upon detection, the user is notified using graphical interfaces, electronic mail messages, pager messages, or personal data assistant messages.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2001Date of Patent: June 21, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Andrew H. Quintero, Jeffrey S. Fedor, Alan G. Quan, Karen Richardson, Donald W. Scott, Ken A. Piper
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Patent number: 6907052Abstract: A tunable optical local oscillator is used for optical heterodyne signal detection using an electrooptic Mach-Zehnder modulator to produce a rapidly tunable optical signal from a tunable RF frequency generator. A combination of the Mach-Zehnder modulator and optical fibers for providing stimulated Brillouin scattering are used to suppress unwanted signals for providing a spectrally pure optical local oscillator waveform. Suppression of unwanted optical signals, up to 50 dB, generated by the Mach-Zehnder modulator is obtained, resulting in high spectral purity of the optical local oscillator waveform with an extended tuning range of the tunable optical oscillator equal to the operating bandwidth of up to 60 GHz of the Mach-Zehnder modulators.Type: GrantFiled: February 19, 2003Date of Patent: June 14, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: David A. Kozlowski, John P. Hurrell
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Patent number: 6897821Abstract: An off-gimbal pointing system is improved using filtering of resolver and gyro responses respectively applied at the output of the resolvers and gyros for attenuating high frequencies resolver responses and gyro responses that effectively degrades the high frequency responses that are matched and above the control system bandwidth for improving the overall dynamic control of the off-gimbal pointing system for rejecting the affects of base motion disturbances and vibrations.Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 2003Date of Patent: May 24, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Robert L. Wong, Jason H. Q. Ly, Philip R. Dahl, Arthur C. Or
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Patent number: 6895314Abstract: One or more small self-contained reentry breakup recorders are disposed within a spacecraft and each includes a sensor suite for collecting and recording collected and recorded sensory data during reentry breakup of the spacecraft, and includes a communications system for broadcasting the collected and recorded sensory data after breakup and before impact with the surface of the earth to a remote communication system for preserving the sensory data of the breakup as well as data relating to critical events occurring prior to breakup. An internal GPS receiver provides sensory positional data of the reentry and breakup positions.Type: GrantFiled: June 11, 2003Date of Patent: May 17, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: William Henry Ailor, Ronald John Bywater, Leon Gurevich
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Patent number: 6861633Abstract: An integrated microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sun sensor includes a filter, microlens, aperture and a folded MEMS optical element combined with an active pixel sensor array to form an integrated spacecraft sun sensor in an integrated sealed package, offering lower power, smaller size and higher performance for use on spinning spacecraft useful in attitude determinations. Multiple like sun sensors can be disposed for increasing the reliability, spatial coverage or spatial resolution for a specific performance requirement.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2002Date of Patent: March 1, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Jon V. Osborn
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Patent number: 6862324Abstract: Data aided carrier phase and symbol timing synchronizers are implemented at baseband as digital modulators isolating input signal inphase and quadrature component signals fed into inphase and quadrature Laurent transforms that function as data detector to provide odd and even data bit multiplexed output data signal while cross coupling the inphase and quadrature transformed outputs for removing data modulation in error signals to correct phase errors and timing errors in the received signal so as to provide reliable data demodulation of noisy received signals having dynamic carrier phase and symbol timing errors as found in continuous phase modulation communications systems such as Gaussian minimum shift keying communications systems.Type: GrantFiled: October 23, 2000Date of Patent: March 1, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Gee L. Lui, Kuang Tsai
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Patent number: 6857269Abstract: A two-phase thermodynamic power system includes a capillary device, an inline turbine, and a condenser for generating output power as a generator or receiving input power as a refrigerator. The capillary device, such as a heat loop pipe or a capillary pumped loop, is coupled to the inline turbine for generating output power for power generation or for receiving input power for powered refrigeration. The capillary device receives input heat that is used to change phase of liquid received from the condenser into vapor for driving the turbine. The power system is well suited for space applications using a radioisotope heat source, using waste heat from a radioisotope power system as a heat source, waste heat from spacecraft components such as electronics as a heat source or solar energy as a heat source. The heat source is useful for driving the capillary wick as well as a superheater for increased power efficiency and lifetime operation.Type: GrantFiled: May 8, 2003Date of Patent: February 22, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Karl William Baker
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Patent number: 6851259Abstract: An inflatable structure includes a plurality of inflation cells each have a respective internal gas generator connected to an external control processor for sequential inflation of the inflatable structure. Power and control lines feed through the inflation cells for powering the internal gas generator and for communicating control signals between the gas generators and the external control processor. A method of sequence inflation can use various types of exemplar gas generators, such as cellular containment evaporation gas generators and laser ablation gas generators.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2002Date of Patent: February 8, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Edward J. Simburger, Henry Helvajian
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Patent number: 6840481Abstract: An adjustable multipoint docking system includes a plurality of adjustable grasping jaws that are aligned on a mounting surface and adapted to grab onto a wide variety of extending rings, such as conventional spacecraft adapter rings, of an on-orbit target spacecraft for various missions including spacecraft rescue, spacecraft transorbiting to a desired orbit, spacecraft transorbiting to a waste orbit, or spacecraft deorbiting.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2003Date of Patent: January 11, 2005Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventor: Leon Gurevich
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Patent number: 6830221Abstract: Integrated glass ceramic spacecraft include a plurality of glass ceramic components including molded, tempered, annealed, and patterned glass ceramic components coupled together for forming a support structure or frame or housing through which is communicated optical signals through an optical communications grid and electrical signals through an electrical communications grid, with the optical communications grid and electrical communication grid forming a composite electrooptical communications grid for spacecraft wide intercommunications. The support structure multifunctions as a frame, a housing, a support, a thermal control system, and as part of an electrooptical communications grid while encapsulating a plurality of optical, electronic, electrical, and MEMS devices between which is communicated the electrical and optical signals over the electrooptical communication grid.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2003Date of Patent: December 14, 2004Assignee: The Aerospace CorporationInventors: Siegfried W. Janson, Henry Helvajian