TODAY’S PATENT – ELECTRONIC MAGNETIC COMPASS

The ELECTRONIC MAGNETIC COMPASS was invented by Goro Nomura (Kanagawa), Masami Tanaka (Kanagawa), Yusaku Satsukawa (Kanagawa), Kenji Yamada (Kanagawa), Kenji Kogure (Kanagawa) on 17^th of March 1992, bearing the patent number US5095630A.

The present invention relates to an electronic magnetic compass which is

mounted, for example, on a small ship and which is responsive to the terrestrial magnetism to thereby indicate the azimuth of the ship, and particularly relates to an improvement in cost and performance of the appliance.

The electronic magnetic compass is provided with an angle sensor interlocked with a compass card to produce a code signal at every angle, a code convertor converts the code signal into a compass indication angle, and a signal conversion circuit for producing a deviation signal. The compass azimuth measurement is performed with a simple configuration of an open loop system, so that the structure of an encoder for the angle sensor is so simple that the cost can be reduced. The azimuth angle signal and the indication angle signal can be automatically calibrated so that the measurement accuracy can be improved.