A retroreflective attitude marker includes at least two intersecting reflecting planes oriented at 90 degrees with respect to one another, and having the property that incident laser beams which are perpendicular to the line of intersection of the two planes are reflected directly back to the laser source. Each retroreflective attitude marker therefore has a single retroreflecting plane perpendicular to line of intersection of the two mutually perpendicular planes. Using three layer illuminator/...

An attitude displacement measurement apparatus including a base, primary bearing means retained by the base, auxiliary bearing means mounted for rotation on the primary bearing means on a given axis with respect to the base, a first rotor mounted for rotation on the auxiliary bearing means on the given axis, a second rotor mounted for rotation on the auxiliary bearing means on the given axis, a first drive mechanism coupled to the first rotor and operable to produce rotation thereof on the auxil...

The present invention provides a vertical reference that includes sensors providing signals indicative of angular tilt from the predetermined reference axis and the rate of angular tilt; an integrator to integrate the angular rate signal to provide a dynamic angular tilt signal; a pendulum to provide a signal indicative of angular displacement relative to the predetermined axis; a first amplifier for filtering and amplifying the dynamic angular tilt signal and the angular displacement signal to ...

The attitude of a spinning spacecraft (20) whose spin axis is substantially in the plane of the orbit is controlled without the use of reaction control thrusters. A two-axis gimbal (24) on which a momentun wheel (26) is mounted is secured to a central body (21). Two actuators (40, 42) are used to selectively pivot the gimballed momentum wheel (26) about each gimbal axis (x, y) in order to apply a control moment to change the attitude state of the spacecraft (20).

The sensor successively calculates a rolling angle, pitch angle and azimuth from the coordinate transformation matrix with the level error and azimuth error compensated. It calculates azimuth error compensatory values using the GPS direction signal and calculates a difference between the GPS direction signal and magnetic azimuth signal under a condition wherein the reliability of the GPS direction signal is high, whereas it calculates azimuth error compensatory values using the calculated differ...

A transporter for transporting a load over a surface. The transporter includes a support platform for supporting the load. The support platform is characterized by a fore-aft axis, a lateral axis, and an orientation with respect to the surface, the orientation referred to as an attitude. At least one ground-contacting element is flexibly coupled to the support platform in such a manner that the attitude of the support platform is capable of variation. One or more ground-contacting elements are d...

In a vehicle attitude control system of an automotive vehicle employing a pump-and-motor assembly, and a hydraulic actuator that regulates fluid pressures in wheel-brake cylinders of road wheels of the vehicle, independently of each other, a control unit is electronically connected to at least a motor of the pump-and-motor assembly and the hydraulic actuator, for executing vehicle attitude control by controlling a discharge pressure of the motor-driven pump and by controlling the fluid pressures...

The specification discloses a magnetic liquid core toroidal transformer having four secondary windings spaced 90.degree. apart. When the toroid is deviated from the horizontal plane, the magnetic liquid causes the secondary winding voltages to correspondingly change.

Apparatus for indicating attitude failure in an attitude indicator system in which energy is stored and isolated from all other apparatus during normal operation and transferred to the attitude indicator when attitude failure is detected, resulting in an indication of attitude failure.

An attitude determination system and method is provided that includes at least two sensor sets. Each sensor set is configured to detect electromagnetic radiation, such as light of a known frequency. Specifically, each sensor set is configured to detect electromagnetic radiation from a one of a plurality of point sources, where each of the plurality of point sources emits electromagnetic radiation of a different frequency. Each sensor set includes at least three sensors, with each of the three se...