Patents by Inventor James P. Alstad

James P. Alstad 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).

  • Fast access, low memory, pair catalog
    Patent number: 7310578
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2007
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: James P. Alstad, David D. Needelman, Rongsheng Li, Richard A. Fowell, Peter C. Lai, Yeong-Wei A. Wu