Patents by Inventor Mitsuo Kawahara

Mitsuo Kawahara 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: 5012081
    Abstract: A star tracker for generating positional information for a vehicle includes a telescope 40 having multiple fields of view for imaging stellar objects. The telescope includes a plurality of radiation detectors 58 and an input lens 45 comprised of, in one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of holographic elements 45a and 45b. The holographic elements direct incident radiation originating from a plurality of stellar objects to an associated one of the radiation detectors. In another embodiment the multiple field of view telescope is comprised of a monocentric ball lens 80. The tracker may further include a multiplexer 60 for sequentially reading out a signal from each of the radiation detectors and a controller 62 coupled to the multiplexer for receiving the signals and for determining from the positions of the stellar objects imaged by the telescope a position of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1989
    Date of Patent: April 30, 1991
    Assignee: Northrop Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas R. Jungwirth, A. Phillip Simpson, Mitsuo Kawahara, Seymour Levine, John M. Kennel