Patents by Inventor Christopher Walden Dever

Christopher Walden Dever 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).

  • Patent number: 9508265
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a flight controller constructed to control a parafoil in flight from a starting location to a target location is provided. The flight controller includes an interface constructed to connect to one or more actuators and one or more wind sensors, a memory, a processor coupled to the memory, the interface, and a flight manager component executable by the processor. The flight manager component is configured to identify the target location and the starting location, receive wind data, determine a relationship between a ground reference frame (GRF) and a wind fixed frame (WFF) based on the wind data, generate a trajectory between the starting location and the target location in the WFF, determine a desired heading based on the trajectory and the relationship between the GRF and the WFF, and generate an actuator control signal based on the desired heading to adjust a heading of the parafoil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: THE CHARLES STARK DRAPER LABORATORY, INC.
    Inventors: Benjamin S. Chiel, Christopher Walden Dever
  • Publication number: 20160027311
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a flight controller constructed to control a parafoil in flight from a starting location to a target location is provided. The flight controller includes an interface constructed to connect to one or more actuators and one or more wind sensors, a memory, a processor coupled to the memory, the interface, and a flight manager component executable by the processor. The flight manager component is configured to identify the target location and the starting location, receive wind data, determine a relationship between a ground reference frame (GRF) and a wind fixed frame (WFF) based on the wind data, generate a trajectory between the starting location and the target location in the WFF, determine a desired heading based on the trajectory and the relationship between the GRF and the WFF, and generate an actuator control signal based on the desired heading to adjust a heading of the parafoil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2014
    Publication date: January 28, 2016
    Inventors: Benjamin S. Chiel, Christopher Walden Dever