Patents by Inventor Michael A. Whelan

Michael A. Whelan 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: 12565336
    Abstract: A system includes a set of satellites in orbits having transits across the sky. Two or more such transits are arranged to intersect to form a closed loop. Movement of the satellites along their respective transits causes, at each intersection of the closed loop, two or more satellites of the set of satellites to be distanced from each other in a manner that enables coverage of the two or more satellites by a single beam of an antenna that tracks one of the satellites.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2026
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael A. Whelan, Emily C. Widder
  • Patent number: 12515826
    Abstract: A device includes an antenna controller configured to direct a beam to track a first satellite that follows an orbit having a transit arranged to intersect a transit of one or more other satellites to form a closed loop. The antenna controller is also configured to switch a tracking target of the beam from the first satellite to a second satellite of the one or more other satellites when the first satellite and the second satellite are at a first intersection of the transits that form the closed loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2026
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Michael A. Whelan, Emily C. Widder
  • Publication number: 20250026494
    Abstract: A system includes a set of satellites in orbits having transits across the sky. Two or more such transits are arranged to intersect to form a closed loop. Movement of the satellites along their respective transits causes, at each intersection of the closed loop, two or more satellites of the set of satellites to be distanced from each other in a manner that enables coverage of the two or more satellites by a single beam of an antenna that tracks one of the satellites.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Publication date: January 23, 2025
    Inventors: Michael A. Whelan, Emily C. Widder
  • Publication number: 20250026501
    Abstract: A device includes an antenna controller configured to direct a beam to track a first satellite that follows an orbit having a transit arranged to intersect a transit of one or more other satellites to form a closed loop. The antenna controller is also configured to switch a tracking target of the beam from the first satellite to a second satellite of the one or more other satellites when the first satellite and the second satellite are at a first intersection of the transits that form the closed loop.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Publication date: January 23, 2025
    Inventors: Michael A. Whelan, Emily C. Widder
  • Publication number: 20200343991
    Abstract: A satellite payload system is presented. The system includes plurality of optical processing modules, including a plurality of ring-connected optical processing modules and at least one inter-satellite optical processing module, and at least one optical fiber ring communicatively coupled to each of the ring-connected optical processing modules. At least one of the ring-connected optical processing modules is configured to provide on-board signal processing of signals conveyed on the at least one optical fiber ring. At least one of the ring-connected optical processing modules is communicatively coupled to a respective inter-satellite optical processing module. Each inter-satellite optical processing module is configured to optically communicatively couple to a respective remote satellite.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: James P. Scott, Michael A. Whelan, Bradley A. Scott, Dennis L. Gould
  • Patent number: 10819430
    Abstract: A satellite payload system is presented. The system includes plurality of optical processing modules, including a plurality of ring-connected optical processing modules and at least one inter-satellite optical processing module, and at least one optical fiber ring communicatively coupled to each of the ring-connected optical processing modules. At least one of the ring-connected optical processing modules is configured to provide on-board signal processing of signals conveyed on the at least one optical fiber ring. At least one of the ring-connected optical processing modules is communicatively coupled to a respective inter-satellite optical processing module. Each inter-satellite optical processing module is configured to optically communicatively couple to a respective remote satellite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: James P. Scott, Michael A. Whelan, Bradley A. Scott, Dennis L. Gould
  • Patent number: 10594430
    Abstract: A satellite payload system is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: James P. Scott, Michael A. Whelan, Bradley A. Scott, Dennis L. Gould
  • Patent number: 9590573
    Abstract: In one aspect a satellite comprises a body, a solid state power amplifier, a heat acquisition and transfer device positioned proximate at least one heat generating element on the solid state power amplifier, and a heat rejection device in thermal communication with the heat acquisition and transfer device to reject heat acquired from the solid state power amplifier. Other aspects may be described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Thomas Rust, III, Gregory Kim, Jonathan M. Allison, Michael A. Whelan
  • Patent number: 9532235
    Abstract: A spacecraft, having a satellite receiver, that is configured so that the direction of the downlink beams transmitted from the satellite receiver depends on the location of the uplink signals transmitted from the ground and not the attitude of the spacecraft in space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: Michael A. Whelan
  • Patent number: 9319000
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for managing a multi-port amplifier. In one illustrative embodiment, an apparatus comprises the multi-port amplifier and a controller. The multi-port amplifier is configured to amplify a plurality of signals to form a plurality of amplified signals. The controller is configured to send a plurality of control adjustments to a plurality of equalizers in the multi-port amplifier to improve leakage performance of the multi-port amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventor: Michael A. Whelan
  • Publication number: 20150207465
    Abstract: In one aspect a satellite comprises a body, a solid state power amplifier, a heat acquisition and transfer device positioned proximate at least one heat generating element on the solid state power amplifier, and a heat rejection device in thermal communication with the heat acquisition and transfer device to reject heat acquired from the solid state power amplifier. Other aspects may be described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2014
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Thomas Rust, III, Gregory Kim, Johnathan M. Allison, Michael A. Whelan
  • Publication number: 20150035594
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for managing a multi-port amplifier. In one illustrative embodiment, an apparatus comprises the multi-port amplifier and a controller. The multi-port amplifier is configured to amplify a plurality of signals to form a plurality of amplified signals. The controller is configured to send a plurality of control adjustments to a plurality of equalizers in the multi-port amplifier to improve leakage performance of the multi-port amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventor: Michael A. Whelan
  • Patent number: 7191934
    Abstract: An incident management system includes a check-in computer system and a portable data terminal. The check-in computer system is utilized to read information from a plurality of pre-existing identification (ID) cards and utilize at least a portion of the information to create an incident-specific credential for each person responding to an incident. The portable data terminal is configured to read the incident-specific credentials and communicate with the check-in computer system to provide current assignments of personnel responding to an incident such that the personnel can be tracked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: Salamander Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Russell L. Miller, Michael A. Whelan
  • Publication number: 20040174269
    Abstract: A system for tracking personnel at a site includes a collection board and a plurality of input devices. The collection board includes a plurality of discrete zones, which each correspond to a user configurable location. At least a portion of one of the input devices is associated with each of the discrete zones. The input devices are configured to receive input information from a personnel identification (ID) tag assigned to a specific individual when the personnel ID tag is located within an input range of one of the input devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2003
    Publication date: September 9, 2004
    Inventors: Russell L. Miller, Michael A. Whelan
  • Patent number: 6761312
    Abstract: A system and method for tracking victims of a mass casualty incident includes the steps of: (a) providing a tag to be associated with each victim, each tag containing machine-readable data representing information including at least the victims triage priority; (b) reading the machine-readable data; and (c) displaying the information read in step (b). Each tag may further contain machine-readable data representing information including at least one of (1) an identification code uniquely associated with the victim; (2) name of the victim; (3) the nature of the victim's injuries; (4) the victim's medical condition; (5) the victim's initial treatment; (6) physical characteristics of the victim; (7) the victim's photo; and (8) the location to which the victim was transported or assigned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2004
    Assignee: Salamander Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John T. Piatek, Russell L. Miller, Michael A. Whelan