Patents by Inventor Robert M. Caplinger

Robert M. Caplinger 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: 10976380
    Abstract: A system for determining a heading of a vehicle is disclosed. The system includes a magnetometer configured to generate a magnetic heading output signal, and one or more rate gyros configured to generate a gyro angular rate output signal. The system may further include a controller configured to determine a magnetometer heading rate based on the magnetic heading output signal and a gyro heading rate based on the gyro angular rate output signal. The controller may calculate a difference value between the magnetometer heading rate and the gyro heading rate. If the difference value is above a difference threshold value, the controller may calculate an integration value between the magnetometer heading rate and the gyro heading rate, report a positive magnetometer error state if the integration value is above an integration threshold value, and report a negative magnetometer error state if the integration value is below the integration threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert M. Caplinger
  • Publication number: 20200233043
    Abstract: A system for determining a heading of a vehicle is disclosed. The system includes a magnetometer configured to generate a magnetic heading output signal, and one or more rate gyros configured to generate a gyro angular rate output signal. The system may further include a controller configured to determine a magnetometer heading rate based on the magnetic heading output signal and a gyro heading rate based on the gyro angular rate output signal. The controller may calculate a difference value between the magnetometer heading rate and the gyro heading rate. If the difference value is above a difference threshold value, the controller may calculate an integration value between the magnetometer heading rate and the gyro heading rate, report a positive magnetometer error state if the integration value is above an integration threshold value, and report a negative magnetometer error state if the integration value is below the integration threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventor: Robert M. Caplinger
  • Patent number: 10124907
    Abstract: An avionics computing device of an aircraft including a rotor may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium and a processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium. Upon an occurrence of a condition indicative of a requirement to perform an autorotation maneuver, the processor may be configured to generate autorotation guidance commands based on a generated feasible three-dimensional autorotation trajectory. The generated feasible three-dimensional autorotation trajectory may be for the autorotation maneuver of an aircraft including a rotor. The generated autorotation guidance commands may be configured to guide a pilot of the aircraft to perform the autorotation maneuver of the aircraft along the generated feasible three-dimensional autorotation trajectory. The processor may further be configured to output data associated with the generated autorotation guidance commands to an input/output device for presentation to the pilot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Vladislav Gavrilets, Maxime M. Gariel, Robert M. Caplinger, Bryan M. Krawiec