Patents by Inventor Steve Hickling

Steve Hickling 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).

  • Systems and methods for simulating GNSS multipath and obscuration with networked autonomous vehicles
    Patent number: 11960001
    Abstract: The disclosed technology teaches testing an autonomous vehicle: shielding a GNSS receiving antenna of the vehicle from ambient GNSS signals while the vehicle is under test and supplanting the ambient GNSS signals with simulated GNSS signals. Testing includes using a GNSS signal generating system: receiving the ambient GNSS signals using an antenna of the system and determining a location and acceleration of the vehicle from the GNSS signals, accessing a model of an augmented environment that includes multi-pathing and obscuration of the GNSS signals along a test path, based on the determined location—generating the simulated GNSS signals to feed to the vehicle, in real time—simulating at least one constellation of GNSS satellite sources modified according to the augmented environment, based on the determined location, and feeding the simulated signals to a receiver in the vehicle, thereby supplanting ambient GNSS as the autonomous vehicle travels along the test path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Spirent Communications, plc
    Inventors: Colin Richard Ford, Mark Geoffrey Holbrow, Steve Hickling, Mark Hunter, Guy Buesnel, Neil Bennett, Daniel Martin
  • SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TESTING CONNECTED AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
    Publication number: 20210173077
    Abstract: The disclosed technology teaches testing an autonomous vehicle: shielding a GNSS receiving antenna of the vehicle from ambient GNSS signals while the vehicle is under test and supplanting the ambient GNSS signals with simulated GNSS signals. Testing includes using a GNSS signal generating system: receiving the ambient GNSS signals using an antenna of the system and determining a location and acceleration of the vehicle from the GNSS signals, accessing a model of an augmented environment that includes multi-pathing and obscuration of the GNSS signals along a test path, based on the determined location—generating the simulated GNSS signals to feed to the vehicle, in real time—simulating at least one constellation of GNSS satellite sources modified according to the augmented environment, based on the determined location, and feeding the simulated signals to a receiver in the vehicle, thereby supplanting ambient GNSS as the autonomous vehicle travels along the test path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Publication date: June 10, 2021
    Applicant: Spirent Communications PLC
    Inventors: Colin Richard Ford, Mark Geoffrey Holbrow, Steve Hickling, Mark Hunter, Guy Buesnel, Neil Bennett, Daniel Martin