Patents by Inventor Jon E. Maenpa

Jon E. Maenpa 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: 8154445
    Abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) pseudorange measurements must be compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications. The problem of pseudorange measurement errors resulting from directionally dependent group delays is not an issue in Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) GNSS sensors. However, for the complex case of a GNSS receiver employing a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) and dynamic beam steering, the multiplicity of combinations of antenna element outputs makes compensation of directionally dependent antenna induced errors more difficult, as the simple subtraction that might be used for FRPA compensation does not work with a CRPA. Example embodiments provide for frequency domain correction of GNSS pseudorange measurements in CRPA receivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Richard G. Keegan
  • Patent number: 8089402
    Abstract: This invention discloses a method for enhancing a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Global Positioning System (GPS), location calculation by supplying carrier phase corrections within a GNSS receiver used with a multiple element Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) receiver. GNSS carrier phase measurements should be compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications. One technique successfully employed in Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) GPS sensors applies a simple directionally dependent set of correction factors to the measurement outputs. For the complex case of a GNSS receiver employing a CRPA and dynamic beam steering, however, the multiplicity of combinations of antenna element outputs makes the FRPA compensation technique impractical. Compensation of carrier phase measurements is a problem not addressed in previous GPS CRPA beam steering sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Patrick M. Sain
  • Patent number: 8044857
    Abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) pseudorange measurements are compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications using a multiple element controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). Pseudorange errors are calibrated and stored in a sky map by azimuth, elevation, radio frequency (RF) channel, and frequency. Corrections are applied in real time to each pseudorange measurement by applying a combination of the stored errors. The coefficients of the errors in the combination are computed as a function of steering vectors and CRPA filter weights. This implements a generalized pseudorange correction able to compensate a GNSS CRPA sensor for channel dependent errors such as group delay for both the case of uniform weights for all frequencies and the more complex case of frequency-dependent weights.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Patrick M. Sain
  • Publication number: 20110241939
    Abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) pseudorange measurements must be compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications. The problem of pseudorange measurement errors resulting from directionally dependent group delays is not an issue in Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) GNSS sensors. However, for the complex case of a GNSS receiver employing a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA) and dynamic beam steering, the multiplicity of combinations of antenna element outputs makes compensation of directionally dependent antenna induced errors more difficult, as the simple subtraction that might be used for FRPA compensation does not work with a CRPA. Example embodiments provide for frequency domain correction of GNSS pseudorange measurements in CRPA receivers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Richard G. Keegan
  • Publication number: 20110050497
    Abstract: This invention discloses a method for enhancing a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Global Positioning System (GPS), location calculation by supplying carrier phase corrections within a GNSS receiver used with a multiple element Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) receiver. GNSS carrier phase measurements should be compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications. One technique successfully employed in Fixed Reception Pattern Antenna (FRPA) GPS sensors applies a simple directionally dependent set of correction factors to the measurement outputs. For the complex case of a GNSS receiver employing a CRPA and dynamic beam steering, however, the multiplicity of combinations of antenna element outputs makes the FRPA compensation technique impractical. Compensation of carrier phase measurements is a problem not addressed in previous GPS CRPA beam steering sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Partrick M. Sain
  • Publication number: 20110050489
    Abstract: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) pseudorange measurements are compensated for receiver hardware and directionally dependent antenna errors to obtain desired accuracies for high precision GNSS positioning applications using a multiple element controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). Pseudorange errors are calibrated and stored in a sky map by azimuth, elevation, radio frequency (RF) channel, and frequency. Corrections are applied in real time to each pseudorange measurement by applying a combination of the stored errors. The coefficients of the errors in the combination are computed as a function of steering vectors and CRPA filter weights. This implements a generalized pseudorange correction able to compensate a GNSS CRPA sensor for channel dependent errors such as group delay for both the case of uniform weights for all frequencies and the more complex case of frequency-dependent weights.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Inventors: Jon E. Maenpa, Andrew M. Hautzik, Patrick M. Sain