Patents by Inventor Stephen D. Milligan
Stephen D. Milligan 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).
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Patent number: 9787482Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a method for providing power to a distributed sensor system, the method comprising providing power from at least one port of an interface unit to a first port of a first sensor unit of at least one of a plurality of sensor strings, powering up the first sensor unit, forwarding power from a second port of the first sensor unit to a first port of a second sensor unit of the at least one of the plurality of sensor strings, powering up the second sensor unit, monitoring the plurality of sensor strings for a fault condition, and in response to detecting a fault condition in a first sensor string of the plurality of sensor strings, providing power from a second one of the plurality of sensor strings to the first sensor string.Type: GrantFiled: October 15, 2015Date of Patent: October 10, 2017Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: Stephen D. Milligan, Dale Gordon Robertson
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Publication number: 20160036595Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a method for providing power to a distributed sensor system, the method comprising providing power from at least one port of an interface unit to a first port of a first sensor unit of at least one of a plurality of sensor strings, powering up the first sensor unit, forwarding power from a second port of the first sensor unit to a first port of a second sensor unit of the at least one of the plurality of sensor strings, powering up the second sensor unit, monitoring the plurality of sensor strings for a fault condition, and in response to detecting a fault condition in a first sensor string of the plurality of sensor strings, providing power from a second one of the plurality of sensor strings to the first sensor string.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 15, 2015Publication date: February 4, 2016Inventors: Stephen D. Milligan, Dale Gordon Robertson
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Publication number: 20140265550Abstract: According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a distributed sensor network comprising an interface unit and a plurality of sensor strings, each sensor string comprising a plurality of sensor units coupled in series to a port of the interface unit, wherein each one of the plurality of sensor units is configured to be provided both power and network connectivity via a first cable from one of the interface unit and another sensor unit within the sensor string and also to provide both power and network connectivity via a second cable to another sensor unit within the sensor string, and wherein a first string of the plurality of sensor strings is configured to be coupled to a second string of the plurality of sensor strings and wherein at least one sensor unit within the first string is configured to provide power to a sensor unit within the second string.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 14, 2013Publication date: September 18, 2014Applicant: RAYTHEON BBN TECHNOLOGIES CORP.Inventors: Stephen D. Milligan, Dale Gordon Robertson
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Patent number: 8730088Abstract: Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for accurately scheduling radar and radio events against each other. Specifically, a scheduling manager can schedule radar events based on scheduled radio events (wireless network communication events). A given radio schedule for a compact radar sensor can be a relatively complicated schedule, especially when the compact radar sensor operates as part of an ad hoc network. In certain embodiments, the scheduling manager identifies a radio transmission schedule of neighboring radar nodes or compact radar sensor units. Such a radio transmission schedule of neighboring nodes can include information on when neighboring nodes will be receiving or transmitting data. The scheduling manager then schedules radar events to be executed by the radar device at available times, or at times that do not overlap with scheduled radio events.Type: GrantFiled: January 5, 2011Date of Patent: May 20, 2014Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: Stephen D. Milligan, Jason Redi, Jonathan Fisher, Daniel Sumorok, Steven W. Weeks
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Publication number: 20120230153Abstract: Systems and methods for processing signals received from at least two sources are described. The two sources may each include an array of sensors. The sensor arrays may be spaced apart on the surface of a body, such as an aircraft, a ground vehicle, or a building. The sensors are configured for receiving signals from the at least two sources indicative of timing information. The timing information may be associated with a shockwave of a projectile and a location processor configured for determining shooter location based on signals output by each of the at least two arrays of sensors is coupled to each of the at least two arrays of sensors. The location processor is configured to compute global time metrics and local reference times associated with each of the sensors and determine shooter location based on a relationship between computed global time metrics and local reference times.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 7, 2011Publication date: September 13, 2012Applicant: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: Marshall Seth Brinn, Stephen D. Milligan
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Patent number: 8149649Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods that can be used to detect shooters. The systems and methods described herein use arrival times of a shockwave, produced by a shot, at a plurality of sensors to assign weights to each of the plurality of sensors, and determine a shot trajectory based on the assigned weights.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2007Date of Patent: April 3, 2012Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: Marshall Seth Brinn, James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan
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Publication number: 20120032833Abstract: Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for accurately scheduling radar and radio events against each other. Specifically, a scheduling manager can schedule radar events based on scheduled radio events (wireless network communication events). A given radio schedule for a compact radar sensor can be a relatively complicated schedule, especially when the compact radar sensor operates as part of an ad hoc network. In certain embodiments, the scheduling manager identifies a radio transmission schedule of neighboring radar nodes or compact radar sensor units. Such a radio transmission schedule of neighboring nodes can include information on when neighboring nodes will be receiving or transmitting data. The scheduling manager then schedules radar events to be executed by the radar device at available times, or at times that do not overlap with scheduled radio events.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 5, 2011Publication date: February 9, 2012Inventors: Stephen D. Milligan, Jason Redi, Jonathan Fisher, Daniel Sumorok, Steven W. Weeks
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Patent number: 8005631Abstract: Systems and methods for locating the shooter of supersonic projectiles are described. The system uses at least five, preferably seven, spaced acoustic sensors. Sensor signals are detected for shockwaves and muzzle blast, wherein muzzle blast detection can be either incomplete coming from less than 4 sensor channels, or inconclusive due to lack of signal strength. Shooter range can be determined by an iterative computation and/or a genetic algorithm by minimizing a cost function that includes timing information from both shockwave and muzzle signal channels. Disambiguation is significantly improved over shockwave-only measurements.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 2008Date of Patent: August 23, 2011Assignee: Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Patent number: 7710828Abstract: Systems and methods for locating the shooter of supersonic projectiles are described. The system uses at least five, preferably seven, spaced acoustic sensors. Sensor signals are detected for shockwaves and muzzle blast, wherein muzzle blast detection can be either incomplete coming from less than 4 sensor channels, or inconclusive due to lack of signal strength. Shooter range can be determined by an iterative computation and/or a genetic algorithm by minimizing a cost function that includes timing information from both shockwave and muzzle signal channels. Disambiguation is significantly improved over shockwave-only measurements.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 2008Date of Patent: May 4, 2010Assignee: BBN Technologies CorpInventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Patent number: 7693653Abstract: A method of determining a path having an ordered set of waypoints to be visited by a mobile agent to accomplish a mission includes: producing candidate paths using a multi-objective optimization algorithm, subject to a path production heuristic; selecting a path from the candidate paths, subject to a path selection heuristic; instructing the mobile agent to move according to the selected path; modifying a maintained subset of the candidate paths to produce a new candidate path using the algorithm and subject to the path production heuristic; designating either the currently-selected path or the new candidate path as the newly-selected path, subject to the path selection heuristic; and instructing the mobile agent to move according to the newly-selected path. The method may further include iterating production of new candidate paths, either randomly or based on modifications of previous candidate paths, to continually update an operation plan for the mobile agent.Type: GrantFiled: September 8, 2008Date of Patent: April 6, 2010Assignee: BBN Technologies CorpInventors: Talib S. Hussain, Richard F. Estrada, Richard B. Lazarus, Stephen D. Milligan, Gordon Vidaver
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Publication number: 20090125225Abstract: A method of determining a path having an ordered set of waypoints to be visited by a mobile agent to accomplish a mission includes: producing candidate paths using a multi-objective optimization algorithm, subject to a path production heuristic; selecting a path from the candidate paths, subject to a path selection heuristic; instructing the mobile agent to move according to the selected path; modifying a maintained subset of the candidate paths to produce a new candidate path using the algorithm and subject to the path production heuristic; designating either the currently-selected path or the new candidate path as the newly-selected path, subject to the path selection heuristic; and instructing the mobile agent to move according to the newly-selected path. The method may further include iterating production of new candidate paths, either randomly or based on modifications of previous candidate paths, to continually update an operation plan for the mobile agent.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 8, 2008Publication date: May 14, 2009Applicant: BBN Technologies CorpInventors: Talib S. Hussain, Richard F. Estrada, Richard B. Lazarus, Stephen D. Milligan, Gordon Vidaver
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Patent number: 7408840Abstract: Systems and methods for determining and disambiguating the location of the shooter of supersonic projectiles based on shockwave-only signals are described. Using several spaced sensors, an initial portion of the shockwave-only signals is sensed to determine Time-Differences-Of-Arrival (TDOA) for the sensor pairs. The resulting TDOAs are used to determine the gradient of curvature of the shockwave wavefront on the sensors. The gradient of curvature is then used to determine the disambiguated projectile trajectory.Type: GrantFiled: October 13, 2006Date of Patent: August 5, 2008Assignee: BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Publication number: 20080162089Abstract: Systems and methods for locating the shooter of supersonic projectiles are described. The system uses at least five, preferably seven, spaced acoustic sensors. Sensor signals are detected for shockwaves and muzzle blast, wherein muzzle blast detection can be either incomplete coming from less than 4 sensor channels, or inconclusive due to lack of signal strength. Shooter range can be determined by an iterative computation and/or a genetic algorithm by minimizing a cost function that includes timing information from both shockwave and muzzle signal channels. Disambiguation is significantly improved over shockwave-only measurements.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 7, 2008Publication date: July 3, 2008Applicant: BBN Technologies CorpInventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Publication number: 20080159078Abstract: Systems and methods for locating the shooter of supersonic projectiles are described. The system uses at least five, preferably seven, spaced acoustic sensors. Sensor signals are detected for shockwaves and muzzle blast, wherein muzzle blast detection can be either incomplete coming from less than 4 sensor channels, or inconclusive due to lack of signal strength. Shooter range can be determined by an iterative computation and/or a genetic algorithm by minimizing a cost function that includes timing information from both shockwave and muzzle signal channels. Disambiguation is significantly improved over shockwave-only measurements.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 7, 2008Publication date: July 3, 2008Applicant: BBN Technologies CorpInventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Patent number: 7372772Abstract: Systems and methods for compensation of sensor degradation in multi-shooter detection systems are described. In such systems, shooter position and trajectory can be estimated precisely from the shockwaves produced at the plurality of sensors by the incoming shots. However, sensor positions can shift and the performance of some sensors may degrade for various reasons. To compensate for sensor degradation that may occur over the life of a long-deployed system, the shooter estimation algorithms are dynamically adapted by performing a least-squares regression analysis of the shockwave arrival times to obtain a time residual for each shot, observing multiple shots, and weighting the individual contributions of the sensors as a function of the time residuals for the multiple shots.Type: GrantFiled: February 23, 2007Date of Patent: May 13, 2008Assignee: BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: Marshall Seth Brinn, James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan
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Patent number: 7359285Abstract: Systems and methods for locating the shooter of supersonic projectiles are described. The system uses at least five, preferably seven, spaced acoustic sensors. Sensor signals are detected for shockwaves and muzzle blast, wherein muzzle blast detection can be either incomplete coming from less than 4 sensor channels, or inconclusive due to lack of signal strength. Shooter range can be determined by an iterative computation and/or a genetic algorithm by minimizing a cost function that includes timing information from both shockwave and muzzle signal channels. Disambiguation is significantly improved over shockwave-only measurements.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2005Date of Patent: April 15, 2008Assignee: BBN Technologies Corp.Inventors: James E. Barger, Stephen D. Milligan, Marshall Seth Brinn, Richard J. Mullen
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Patent number: 5848403Abstract: An improved Genetic Algorithm scheduling system includes system for encoding and testing hard constraint information. Each resource and task includes an associated capability and constraint indicating component. A comparison of the capability and constraint components provides an indication of the associated resource is capable of perform the proposed task. The system also includes a method of creating genomes using cost factors and weight settings to produce initial genomes which encode at least partly optimized schedules. The weight settings can be manipulated to emphasize different cost factors during genomes creation. This method also allows changes to be added into a running GA scheduling system, in that new or changed tasks and new or changed resources are encoded into the genome population.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 1997Date of Patent: December 8, 1998Assignee: BBN CorporationInventors: Daniel C. Gabriner, Stephen D. Milligan, Joseph J. Destefano, David J. Montana