Patents by Inventor Yeong-Wei A. Wu
Yeong-Wei A. Wu has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 7260026Abstract: Time-of-day tracking with INS input is described. In one embodiment, a range rate and a range acceleration is generated from inertial navigation system data received from a moveable platform (e.g. an airborne platform). A time and frequency estimation filter receives the range rate, the range acceleration and a timing-based error signal from a time discriminator, and can then generate a time-of-day correction signal and a frequency correction signal. A time-of-day generator receives the time-of-day correction signal and generates a time-of-day correction, and a clock frequency generator receives the frequency correction signal and generates a frequency correction. The time discriminator receives a satellite synchronization signal from a satellite, the time-of-day correction from the time-of-day generator, and the frequency correction from the clock frequency generator.Type: GrantFiled: November 6, 2006Date of Patent: August 21, 2007Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventor: Yeong-wei A. Wu
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Publication number: 20070150128Abstract: A method and apparatus for reducing centroiding error of a star sensor having a plurality of pixels is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of computing a star sensor angular slew rate of ? pixels per star sensor integration period ?, collecting star sensor data while slewing the star sensor according to the selected star sensor angular slew rate ?, and filtering the collected star sensor data according to a frequency determined by the selected star sensor angular slew rate.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 23, 2005Publication date: June 28, 2007Inventors: Richard Fowell, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Patent number: 7228231Abstract: A vehicle (12) including a control system (18) is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (38). The processor (24) is coupled to a star sensor or tracker (22) and a memory (30) that may include a star catalog (32), and an exclusion list (36). The exclusion list (36), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (36), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board. The system uses multiple stayout zones for excluding stars from the exclusion list.Type: GrantFiled: April 29, 2004Date of Patent: June 5, 2007Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Richard A. Fowell, Peter C. Lai, Yeong-Wei A. Wu, Rongsheng Li
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Patent number: 7219014Abstract: A vehicle (12) including a control system (18) is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (38). The processor (24) is coupled to a star sensor or tracker (22) and a memory (30) that may include a star catalog (32), and an exclusion list (36). The exclusion list (36), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on-board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (36), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board.Type: GrantFiled: April 29, 2004Date of Patent: May 15, 2007Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard A. Fowell, Peter C. Lai, Yeong-Wei A. Wu, Bruce N. Eyerly, Jonathan French
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Patent number: 7136752Abstract: A system (18) includes: a) A vehicle (12) includes an attitude or angular velocity control system (38), a plurality of star trackers or star sensors (22) each having a field of view (28); b) a memory (30) having a star catalog (32), an allocated area for a star pair catalog (58) and a reference table (56) stored therein; and c) a processor (24) coupled to the attitude or angular velocity control system (38), the star trackers or star sensors (22), and the memory (30). The processor (24) populates the star pair catalog (58), using the method described herein. The processor (24) then periodically determines the vehicle inertial attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, based, in part, on the star pair catalog (58) and reference table (56). The novel ability of the software to autonomously populate the star pair catalog (58) allows users to avoid uploading a large amount of data, and the problems associated with such an upload.Type: GrantFiled: June 24, 2004Date of Patent: November 14, 2006Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard A. Fowell, Peter C. Lai, Yeong-Wei A. Wu
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Patent number: 7124001Abstract: A method and apparatus for estimating a slave payload attitude is disclosed. The method includes accepting a plurality of slave payload attitude measurements, deriving a model of the relative attitude of the slave payload and a master payload attitude at least in part from the plurality of slave attitude measurements, predicting the relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude using the derived model, and estimating the relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude at least in part from the predicted relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude. Furthermore, the absolute attitude of the slave payload is computed using the relative attitude and the master payload attitude.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 2004Date of Patent: October 17, 2006Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: Rongsheng Li, Hanching Grant Wang, Yeong-Wei A. Wu
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Publication number: 20060149474Abstract: A method of estimating the alignment of a star sensor (20) for a vehicle (12) includes generating star tracker data. A vehicle attitude and a star sensor attitude are determined in response to the star tracker data. A current alignment sample is generated in response to the vehicle attitude and the star sensor attitude. A current refined estimate alignment signal is generated in response to the current alignment sample and a previously refined estimate alignment signal via a vehicle on-board filter (38).Type: ApplicationFiled: January 3, 2005Publication date: July 6, 2006Inventors: David Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Patent number: 7062363Abstract: A method and apparatus for refining a spacecraft state estimate, such as an attitude estimate or an angular velocity estimate, is disclosed. The method computes a plurality equations using residuals describing the difference between observed star positions and predicted positions based on inertial measurements, and solves those equations to generate refined estimates of the spacecraft state estimates.Type: GrantFiled: September 21, 2004Date of Patent: June 13, 2006Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Yeong-Wei A. Wu
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Publication number: 20060097108Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a resolver system has at least one resolver and at least one amplifier in electrical communication with each resolver. A reference circuit is in electrical communication with the amplifiers. The reference circuit provides reference signals to the amplifiers. A non-linearity calibration and compensation circuit in communication with each amplifier uses the amplified reference signals to provide scale factors, so as to enhance a precision of the resolver system.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 13, 2004Publication date: May 11, 2006Inventors: Ketao Liu, Yeong-Wei Wu, Jeffrey Lee
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Publication number: 20050246072Abstract: A vehicle (12) including a control system (18) is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (38). The processor (24) is coupled to a star sensor or tracker (22) and a memory (30) that may include a star catalog (32), and an exclusion list (36). The exclusion list (36), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on-board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (36), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 29, 2004Publication date: November 3, 2005Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANYInventors: David Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard Fowell, Peter Lai, Yeong-Wei Wu, Bruce Eyerly, Jonathan French
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Publication number: 20050246073Abstract: A vehicle (12) including a control system (18) is used for controlling vehicle attitude or angular velocity (38). The processor (24) is coupled to a star sensor or tracker (22) and a memory (30) that may include a star catalog (32), and an exclusion list (36). The exclusion list (36), a list of stars to be temporarily excluded from consideration when determining attitude or angular velocity or relative alignment of star sensors or trackers, is calculated on board. Such a calculation prevents the necessity for a costly, periodic, ground calculation and upload of such data. By manipulating the star catalog, or sub-catalogs derived from said catalog, based upon the exclusion list (36), measurements of such excluded stars are prevented from corrupting the attitude or angular velocity or alignment estimates formulated on board. The system uses multiple stayout zones for excluding stars from the exclusion list.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 29, 2004Publication date: November 3, 2005Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANYInventors: David Needelman, Richard Fowell, Peter Lai, Yeong-Wei Wu, Rongsheng Li
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Publication number: 20050154529Abstract: A system (18) includes: a) A vehicle (12) includes an attitude or angular velocity control system (38), a plurality of star trackers or star sensors (22) each having a field of view (28); b) a memory (30) having a star catalog (32), an allocated area for a star pair catalog (58) and a reference table (56) stored therein; and c) a processor (24) coupled to the attitude or angular velocity control system (38), the star trackers or star sensors (22), and the memory (30). The processor (24) populates the star pair catalog (58), using the method described herein. The processor (24) then periodically determines the vehicle inertial attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, based, in part, on the star pair catalog (58) and reference table (56). The novel ability of the software to autonomously populate the star pair catalog (58) allows users to avoid uploading a large amount of data, and the problems associated with such an upload.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 24, 2004Publication date: July 14, 2005Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANYInventors: David Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard Fowell, Peter Lai, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Publication number: 20050154528Abstract: A system (18) includes: a) A vehicle (12) includes an attitude or angular velocity control system (38), a plurality of star trackers or star sensors (22) each having a field of view (28); b) a memory (30) having a star catalog (32), a star pair catalog (58) and a reference table (56) stored therein; and c) a processor (24) coupled to the attitude or angular velocity control system (38), the star trackers or star sensors (22), and the memory (30). The processor (24) determines the vehicle inertial attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, based, in part, on the star pair catalog (58) and reference table (56). The design of the star pair catalog (58) and reference table (56) is suitable for rapid determination of attitude or angular velocity or sensor alignment, and an efficient use of memory.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 24, 2004Publication date: July 14, 2005Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANYInventors: James Alstad, David Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard Fowell, Peter Lai, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Publication number: 20050071055Abstract: A method and apparatus for refining a spacecraft state estimate, such as an attitude estimate or an angular velocity estimate, is disclosed. The method computes a plurality equations using residuals describing the difference between observed star positions and predicted positions based on inertial measurements, and solves those equations to generate refined estimates of the spacecraft state estimates.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 21, 2004Publication date: March 31, 2005Inventors: David Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Patent number: 6863244Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for compensating for optical sensor data corrupted by angular acceleration is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining an angular acceleration of the optical sensor and modifying the optical sensor data according to the determined angular acceleration of the optical sensor. The apparatus comprises a sensor for determining an angular acceleration of the optical sensor and a navigation system for modifying the optical sensor data according to the determined angular acceleration of the optical sensor.Type: GrantFiled: February 7, 2003Date of Patent: March 8, 2005Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: Richard A. Fowell, Salma I. Saeed, Rongsheng Li, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Publication number: 20050010337Abstract: A method and apparatus for estimating a slave payload attitude is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of accepting a plurality of slave payload attitude measurements, deriving a model of the relative attitude of the slave payload and a master payload attitude at least in part from the plurality of slave attitude measurements, predicting the relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude using the derived model, and estimating the relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude at least in part from the predicted relative attitude between the slave payload attitude and the master payload attitude. Furthermore, the absolute attitude of the slave payload is computed using the relative attitude and the master payload attitude.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 25, 2004Publication date: January 13, 2005Inventors: Rongsheng Li, Hanching Wang, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Patent number: 6825806Abstract: Methods and structures are provided for reducing pointing errors &zgr; of satellite antennas and for generating broad field-of-view satellite attitude acquisition patterns. In one method embodiment, satellite transmit beams have estimated pointing attitudes &bgr; and are transmitted to overlap on a ground-based receiving terminal which has a known terminal location &lgr; and which measures received signal strengths &agr;. Pointing errors &zgr; of the transmit beams are then determined from the estimated pointing attitudes &bgr;, the terminal location &lgr; and the signal strengths &agr; and the pointing errors &zgr; are subsequently reduced by revising the pointing attitudes &bgr;. Other method embodiments utilize known signal-strength functions and antenna signals with known signal parameters such as frequencies and/or modulations.Type: GrantFiled: June 3, 2002Date of Patent: November 30, 2004Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: Ketao Liu, Richard Fowell, Yeong-Wei A. Wu, Rongsheng Li
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Publication number: 20040148068Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for compensating for optical sensor data corrupted by angular acceleration is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of determining an angular acceleration of the optical sensor and modifying the optical sensor data according to the determined angular acceleration of the optical sensor. The apparatus comprises a sensor for determining an angular acceleration of the optical sensor and a navigation system for modifying the optical sensor data according to the determined angular acceleration of the optical sensor.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 7, 2003Publication date: July 29, 2004Inventors: Richard A. Fowell, Salma I. Saeed, Rongsheng Li, Yeong-Wei Wu
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Patent number: 6766227Abstract: Attitude acquisition methods and systems are provided which reduce the time generally required to acquire spacecraft attitude estimates and enhance the probability of realizing such estimates. The methods and systems receive, over a time span &Dgr;t, successive frames of star-sensor signals that correspond to successive stellar fields-of-view, estimate spacecraft rotation &Dgr;r throughout at least a portion of the time span &Dgr;t, and, in response to the spacecraft rotation &Dgr;r, process the star-sensor signals into a processed set of star-sensor signals that denote star positions across an expanded field-of-view that exceeds any of the successive fields-of-view. The expanded field-of-view facilitates identification of the stars that generated the processed set of star-sensor signals to thereby acquire an initial attitude estimate.Type: GrantFiled: November 19, 2002Date of Patent: July 20, 2004Assignee: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Yeong-Wei A. Wu, Rongsheng Li
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Publication number: 20040098177Abstract: Attitude acquisition methods and systems are provided which reduce the time generally required to acquire spacecraft attitude estimates and enhance the probability of realizing such estimates. The methods and systems receive, over a time span &Dgr;t, successive frames of star-sensor signals that correspond to successive stellar fields-of-view, estimate spacecraft rotation &Dgr;r throughout at least a portion of the time span &Dgr;t, and, in response to the spacecraft rotation &Dgr;r, process the star-sensor signals into a processed set of star-sensor signals that denote star positions across an expanded field-of-view that exceeds any of the successive fields-of-view. The expanded field-of-view facilitates identification of the stars that generated the processed set of star-sensor signals to thereby acquire an initial attitude estimate.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 19, 2002Publication date: May 20, 2004Applicant: The Boeing CompanyInventors: David D. Needelman, Yeong-Wei A. Wu, Rongsheng Li