Patents Assigned to Exelis Inc.
  • Patent number: 9766065
    Abstract: A technique for reducing altitude error involves determining a corrected altitude for an aircraft using forecast atmospheric pressure data available, for example, from a weather forecasting service. The forecast atmospheric pressure data includes, for a number of points in time and for a number of geographic locations, a set of pressure levels and corresponding altitude values. Altitude correction data is periodically calculated from the forecast atmospheric pressure data for each of a number of geographic grid points. Upon receiving aircraft position information and an aircraft altitude measurement for an aircraft, one or more of the geographic grid points corresponding to the aircraft position are identified, and a corrected altitude of the aircraft is determined based on the altitude correction data of the one or more geographic grid points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Garcia, Robert Mueller, Eric Innis, Boris Veytsman
  • Patent number: 9753142
    Abstract: Embodiments are generally directed to anti-spoofing techniques for satellite navigation systems. In general, the anti-spoofing techniques use codeless or semi-codeless tracking of encrypted satellite signals to generate measurements that can be used to perform consistency checks to received non-encrypted signals. The consistency checks will detect if the non-encrypted signal is a genuine satellite signal or a spoofing signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Michael L. Broussalian
  • Patent number: 9734723
    Abstract: A registration authority (RA) server registers unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their owners/operators (O/O). A UAV is maintained in a flight lock state until a flight plan request from the O/O is approved by the RA, which sends an key-signed approval to unlock the UAV's flight lock. The RA server evaluates a UAV's proposed flight plan based on the attributes of the O/O and UAV, the location and time of the requested flight plan, and a set of flight rules and exclusion zones that are developed in view of privacy assurance, security assurance, flight safety assurance, and ground safety assurance. The flight plan key-signed approval supplied to the UAV by the RA server specifies an inclusion zone that corresponds to a flight plan trajectory to be followed. Once in flight, the UAV maintains real-time knowledge of its position and time to ensure its flight remains within the approved inclusion zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Bruno, James Mathew Keller, Christian Ramsey
  • Patent number: 9645251
    Abstract: A receiver determines a roll rate of a spinning projectile that receives a signal from a satellite or terrestrial transmitter at a directional antenna fixed to the projectile. The receiver tracks a code phase and a rate of change thereof of the received signal relative to a local model signal corresponding to the transmitter. A roll correlator of the receiver correlates the received signal with the model signal based on (i) the tracked code phase and rate, and (ii) a roll-correlator integration time assumed to produce a predetermined number N of correlation samples per revolution of the antenna, to produce sequential correlation samples for each of successive revolutions of the antenna. The receiver determines a time difference between successive periods of observed signal reception based on the correlation samples, and determines a roll rate based on the time difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory A. Gibbons
  • Patent number: 9625698
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus comprising a source which emits at least one of particles or radiation. The particles or radiation are emitted towards a target. Arranged between the source and the target is a microchannel plate. Also arranged between the source and the target is a collimator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Richard F. Floryan
  • Patent number: 9584232
    Abstract: A computer simulates flight routes for simulated airborne transmitters across a spatial region divided into unit area tiles and over time based on actual aircraft flight plan data. The computer determines transmitter counts per tile per time interval based on the flight routes and assigns transmit parameters, including transmit message rates, to the transmitters. The computer determines transmit message rates per tile based on the transmitter counts and the transmit parameters. The computer generates, for a simulated receiver, an antenna pattern covering at least some of the tiles, and converts the transmit message rates of the covered tiles to a total effective receive message rate of interfering messages at the receiver. The computer determines a probability of successful detection of a desired message among the interfering messages at the receiver based on the effective receive message rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: John Dolan, Michael A. Garcia, James Stafford, Antonio Scarciglia
  • Patent number: 9507120
    Abstract: A vision system is supported by an articulated support frame having at least one proximal frame member coupled to an attachment device and a pair of distal frame members that retain optical devices in fixed mutual parallelism between optical axes of the optical devices and mounting axes of the distal frame members. A number of joints are mechanically interposed between the frame members that define respective axes of rotation about which the frame members are relatively moveable. The joints afford motion of the distal frame members through spatial trajectories over which the mounting axes diverge from mutual parallelism. A bridge device immobilizes the distal frame members on their trajectories in a binocular viewing configuration in which the mounting axis are parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Mark A. Bryant, John B Hammond
  • Patent number: 9341698
    Abstract: A radio interference locator includes a detector circuit having a directional antenna defining a boresight along which electromagnetic radiation is preferentially accepted. The antenna is coupled to a signal detector which generates an electrical signal from a selected radio-frequency (RF) spectral band of the electromagnetic radiation accepted by the antenna. A processor determines the boresight direction at prescribed sample times as well as an associated signal characteristic, such as a signal level of the electrical signal, measured at the sample times. Data are presented that indicate the signal characteristic for the associated boresight direction at each of the sample times. A mobile platform connects the detector circuit and the processor so that they can be freely oriented in space in fixed mechanical formation by a single human operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Randell S. Sierens
  • Patent number: 9342760
    Abstract: An image processing system combines higher-resolution panchromatic images and lower resolution multispectral images using a hyperspherical color space pan-sharpening technique. By converting the multispectral images into a hyperspherical color space, the intensities of the multispectral images can be intensity matched to the intensities of the panchromatic image and then retransformed back to the original color space. The intensity matching can utilize a number of techniques, including, but not limited to, direct substitution of the intensities of the panchromatic image for the intensities of the multispectral images, modification of the intensities of the multispectral images based on predefined statistical models and modification of the intensities of the multispectral images based on dynamically generated statistical models and a selected sharpening parameter ?.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Paul Deskevich, Christopher Padwick
  • Patent number: 9317889
    Abstract: A hybrid processing-based image processing system performs image chain flattening, token queue creation and pipeline prior to image rendering in order to allow various portions of the image processing to be performed in parallel. Tokens are passed between the filters of the pipeline generated from the flattened image chain to allow order-preserving operations to be performed which result in the same image as would have been produced by the original image chain using sequential processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Michael C. Decker
  • Publication number: 20160098378
    Abstract: During data resampling, bad samples are ignored or replaced with some combination of the good sample values in the neighborhood being processed. The sample replacement can be performed using a number of approaches, including serial and parallel implementations, such as branch-based implementations, matrix-based implementations, and function table-based implementations, and can use a number of modes, such as nearest neighbor, bilinear and cubic convolution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Publication date: April 7, 2016
    Applicant: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Brian Joseph Griglak
  • Patent number: 9270976
    Abstract: A panoramic camera system includes a plurality of camera units mounted in a common, e.g., horizontal, plane and arranged in a circumferential array. Each camera unit includes one or more lenses for focusing light from a field of view onto an array of light-sensitive elements. A panoramic image generator combines electronic image data from the multiplicity of the fields of view to generate electronic image data representative of a first 360-degree panoramic view and a second 360-degree panoramic view, wherein the first and second panoramic views are angularly displaced. A stereographic display system is provided to retrieve operator-selectable portions of the first and second panoramic views and to display the user selectable portions in human viewable form. In a further aspect, a video display method is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Robert C. Houvener, Steven N. Pratte
  • Patent number: 9255804
    Abstract: A technique for determining the position of a mobile device includes receiving messages from respective mobile reference devices. Each of the messages is broadcast beginning at one of several predetermined message start opportunity (MSO) times that have known timings relative to a reference time. Each of the messages contains a MSO value identifying the MSO time at which transmission of the message started. The MSO value is used to determine the time of transmission of each of the messages received at the mobile device, and the position of the mobile device is determined via multi-lateration. According to another approach, the mobile device receives a set of ADS-B messages from a respective set of mobile reference devices. The time of transmission of each of the ADS-B messages is supplied in the ADS-B message itself or in a subsequent message and used to determine the position of the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Garcia, Robert Mueller, John W. Lambert, John M. Dolan
  • Patent number: 9256713
    Abstract: A method, logic and system are provided for generating data representing all possible materials that may be present when monitoring a region or space for a radioisotope of interest. All possible materials with which a radioisotope material may interact are grouped or categorized into one of a plurality of material groups. Each material group is further subdivided into a plurality of subgroups based on atomic number of a material. First data is stored for each of the subgroups of each of the plurality of material groups, where the first data represents an interaction between a representative material for a corresponding subgroup and radiation at a plurality of energy levels. Second data is stored representing spectral characteristics of each radioisotope of interest at the plurality of energy levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Don Daniel March, Anthony Bresenhan Kaye
  • Patent number: 9234530
    Abstract: Towards recovering thermal energy, an accumulator buffers a working fluid over an energy recovery cycle that includes two processes: one in which working fluid is accumulated in the accumulator at increasing pressure and the other that draws working fluid from the accumulator at decreasing pressure. Heat storage fluid is displaced in a storage fluid conduit towards a heat storage region in response to increasing pressure in the accumulator and towards a reservoir region in response to decreasing pressure in the accumulator. One or more heat exchange conduits traverse the storage fluid conduit to come in thermal contact with the heat storage fluid where they transfer heat to the heat storage fluid during the first process of the energy recovery cycle and transfer heat from the heat storage fluid during the other process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Keith C. Sneddon
  • Patent number: 9223971
    Abstract: A computer device displays email messages received in connection with a user account and a user selectable icon to report suspicious email. The computer device receives user selections of the icon and an associated suspicious email message among the received email messages. Responsive to the selection, the computer device automatically collects information from the host, the user account, and the email message, determines an initial threat priority for the email message based on the collected information, generates threat indicators based at least on each file attachment of the email message, if any, determines malware, if any, in the email message based on the threat indicators, and creates an event ticket for the suspicious email message having fields populated based on the collected information, the initial threat priority, the threat indicators, and the determined malware.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua G. Bartolomie, Vince Thomas, Kevin Stilwell, Derek Larson, Tracy Nitti
  • Patent number: 9201135
    Abstract: A technique for determining the position of a mobile device includes receiving at the mobile device a set of time-slotted messages from a respective set of reference devices. Each of the time-slotted messages contains a slot ID indicating the assigned time slot in which it was broadcast. The slot ID is used to determine the time of transmission of each of the time-slotted messages received at the mobile device, and the position of the mobile device is determined via multi-lateration based on the time of flight of the time-slotted messages and known positions of the reference devices. According to another approach, the mobile device receives a set of ADS-B messages from a respective set of SBS ground stations. The time of transmission of each of the ADS-B messages is supplied in the ADS-B message itself or in a subsequent message and used to determined the position of the mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Garcia, Robert Mueller, John W. Lambert, John M. Dolan
  • Patent number: 9195808
    Abstract: A method and system for detecting and removing sensitive or hidden information in an electronic document. Detection and removal are performed according to one or more document cleansing policies, which specify the types of sensitive or hidden information to detect and remove, for example, confidential information, financial data, profanity, and the like. Individual policies may be distributed to user clients, and may operate in the form of a “plug-in” to various software programs such as word processors, spreadsheet programs, and e-mail clients. When a user creates or edits an electronic document containing undesirable information, the “plug-in” prevents the user from taking an action (such as saving, printing, moving or sending) with respect to the document if it violates the installed policy or policies, until the document is cleansed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Roger H. Nestler
  • Patent number: 9198126
    Abstract: A method is provided that enhances the throughput of data broadcasts in a multi-beam satellite communication system by taking advantage of target users whose normal environment or equipment provide a better channel performance than that of the nominal environment or equipment for which the system is tuned, which enables a larger coverage area per beam than the nominal design supports. A system is provided that operates the method. A preferred embodiment is described using the Iridium Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) system as a basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: EXELIS INC.
    Inventors: Thomas Russell Topping, James William Bishop, Jr., Robert E. Penny, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9193422
    Abstract: A self-resetting automatic cable cutter includes a body having an elongate cable slot disposed therein. The cable slot has an opening that is configured to receive a cable (wire) therein such that the cable slides along the cable slot. First and second cutting assemblies are positioned on opposing sides of the slot and a coupler is positioned across the cable slot. The coupler connects the first and second cutting assemblies together and is configured to slide away from the opening in response to force applied by the cable. The sliding of the coupler away from the opening in response to the force applied by the cable causes the first and second cutting assemblies to close together to cut the cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Exelis Inc.
    Inventor: Nels N. Neumann