Patents by Inventor Daniel Heacock

Daniel Heacock 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: 11536538
    Abstract: A follow-on object for use in a salvo mission in which one or more lead objects (LO) and a follow-on object track a target. A track state of a tracked object within a sensor field-of-view (FOV) of the follow-on object is initialized. Target-state estimator (TSE) processing based on sensor measurements from the sensor FOV is performed to maintain the track state of the tracked object. Kinematic characteristics of the tracked object are evaluated based on the sensor measurements to compute a probability that the tracked object is an LO based on the evaluated kinematic characteristics. If the probability is not greater than a threshold, the tracked object is designated as the target and TSE processing is resumed. Otherwise, the tracked object is designated as an LO and the track state is re-initialized and the track of the LO is excluded from some intercept task considerations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Jing Q. Minkler, Daniel Heacock
  • Publication number: 20220276340
    Abstract: A follow-on object for use in a salvo mission in which one or more lead objects (LO) and a follow-on object track a target. A track state of a tracked object within a sensor field-of-view (FOV) of the follow-on object is initialized. Target-state estimator (TSE) processing based on sensor measurements from the sensor FOV is performed to maintain the track state of the tracked object. Kinematic characteristics of the tracked object are evaluated based on the sensor measurements to compute a probability that the tracked object is an LO based on the evaluated kinematic characteristics. If the probability is not greater than a threshold, the tracked object is designated as the target and TSE processing is resumed. Otherwise, the tracked object is designated as an LO and the track state is re-initialized and the track of the LO is excluded from some intercept task considerations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Publication date: September 1, 2022
    Inventors: Jing Q. Minkler, Daniel Heacock