Patents by Inventor Craig M. Heatwole

Craig M. Heatwole 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: 6681182
    Abstract: A fault detection pseudo gyro emulates mechanical gyros by processing space system appendage measurement data and reaction wheel tachometer data within reference and control systems of a satellite to compute the vehicular bus angular velocity rate data by accounting for external torques, the momentum transfer between the satellite, the bus, and the appendages for providing accurate relative vehicular position and angular velocity rate data in an attitude reference and control systems now having accurate vehicular angular velocity rate data while enabling fault detection of hardware gyros and momentum sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2004
    Assignee: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Craig M. Heatwole, Louis K. Herman, Girard M. Manke, Brian T. Hamada
  • Publication number: 20030149529
    Abstract: A fault detection pseudo gyro emulates mechanical gyros by processing space system appendage measurement data and reaction wheel tachometer data within reference and control systems of a satellite to compute the vehicular bus angular velocity rate data by accounting for external torques, the momentum transfer between the satellite, the bus, and the appendages for providing accurate relative vehicular position and angular velocity rate data in an attitude reference and control systems now having accurate vehicular angular velocity rate data while enabling fault detection of hardware gyros and momentum sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2002
    Publication date: August 7, 2003
    Applicant: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Craig M. Heatwole, Louis K. Herman, Girard M. Manke, Brian T. Hamada
  • Patent number: 6263264
    Abstract: A pseudo gyro emulates mechanical gyros by software processes by processing space system appendage measurement data and reaction wheel tachometer data within reference and control systems of a satellite using principals of conservation of momentum to compute the vehicular bus angular velocity rate data by accounting for external torque, the momentum transfer between the satellite, the bus, and the appendages for providing accurate relative vehicular position and angular velocity rate data as an integral part of attitude reference and control systems now having higher reliability, longer life times, lower power consumption, and more accurate vehicular angular velocity rate data generated within high bandwidth operations. A specific improvement is the use of a bias torque estimator for accounting for uncertainties in external torque estimations for accurate total system momentum computations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2001
    Assignee: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Louis K. Herman, Craig M. Heatwole, Girard M. Manke, Brian T. Hamada
  • Patent number: 6020956
    Abstract: A pseudo gyro emulates mechanical gyros by software processes by processing space system appendage measurement data and reaction wheel tachometer data within reference and control systems of a satellite using principals of conservation of momentum to compute the vehicular bus angular velocity rate data by accounting for the momentum transfer between the satellite, the bus, and the appendages for providing accurate relative vehicular position and angular velocity rate data as an integral part of attitude reference and control systems now having higher reliability, longer life times, lower power consumption, and more accurate vehicular angular velocity rate data generated within high bandwidth operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2000
    Assignee: The Aerospace Corporation
    Inventors: Louis K. Herman, Craig M. Heatwole, Girard M. Manke, Ian M. McCain, Brian T. Hamada