Patent ID: 9052159
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: F41G,G01B,G01S

Abstract:
1. A system for determining the spatial orientation of a movable apparatus, comprising: at least one optical angle-of-arrival (OAOA) sensor array, each of said arrays comprising a plurality of OAOA sensors arranged to provide a 360° field-of-view (FOV), each of said sensors arranged to receive incoming light from one or more point sources and to determine the angular position of said point source(s) relative to said sensor, at least one of said OAOA sensor arrays mounted to and having a known spatial relationship to a movable apparatus; one or more point sources mounted at one or more stationary positions, each of which is within the FOV of at least one of said arrays mounted to said movable apparatus; an initial-north-finding/initial-vertical-finding (INF/INV) system for determining the azimuth and elevation of at least one of said point sources; and processing circuitry coupled to said INF/INV system and said OAOA sensor arrays and arranged to derive the azimuth and elevation of the OAOA sensor arrays mounted to said movable apparatus and thereby the spatial orientation of said apparatus based on the angular positions of said stationary point sources detected by said OAOA sensor arrays.