1) A method for controlling a steerable thruster on a vessel using an electronic control system comprising:
establishing a wireless network communication between a peripheral input device and the internet;
starting a mobile controller application on said peripheral input device;
establishing communication between said peripheral input device and an electronic controller;
establishing location of the vessel based on data from a GNSS location device;
establishing direction of the thruster based on data from a direction device;
accessing waypoint or route data;
utilizing the mobile controller application to reference waypoint or route data to compile control input data;
utilizing the control system GNSS device location data, and data received from direction device to provide control feedback for navigating a route or navigating to a waypoint;
sending said routing data compiled by controller application from the peripheral input device to an electronic controller;
establishing communication between an electronic controller and a steerable thruster device;
sending control signals from said electronic controller to the steerable thruster device;
wherein said control signals from said electronic controller controls direction and magnitude of thrusting device causing the vessel to move towards said waypoint or route.
2) The method of claim 1 wherein said peripheral input device is a smart phone.
3) The method of claim 1 wherein said peripheral input device is a tablet.
4) The method of claim 1 wherein the waypoint or route data is downloaded from a site on the internet.
5) The method of claim 1 wherein the information for creation of route or waypoint data is from a cached or locally stored data source on the peripheral input device.
6) The method of claim 1 wherein the step of establishing communication between a peripheral input device and an electronic controller is a wireless connection.
7) A method of sharing waypoint or route data comprising the steps of:
establishing a wireless network communication between a peripheral input device and the internet;
starting a mobile controller application on said peripheral input device;
generating at least one waypoint or route in the mobile controller application;
and uploading at least one waypoint or route.
8) The method of generating a waypoint or route of claim 7 wherein the waypoint or route is created by manually navigating to the waypoint or navigating over the route.
9) The method of generating a waypoint or route of claim 7 wherein the waypoint or route is created on a device capable of generating the waypoint or route.
10) The method of sharing waypoint or route data of claim 7 wherein the step of wireless uploading the at least one waypoint data further comprises uploading the data to a cloud.
11) The method of sharing waypoint or route data of claim 7 further comprising providing other users access to the cloud to access the at least one waypoint.
12) The method of sharing waypoint or route data of claim 7 further comprising the step of directing the mobile controller application to control a steerable thrusting device vessel to one or more of the downloaded shared waypoints.
13) An electronic control system for controlling a steerable thruster on a vessel comprising:
a mobile peripheral input device;
said peripheral input device comprising a wireless network link for uploading or downloading data or information from the internet to the said peripheral input device;
a mobile controller application for operation on said mobile peripheral input device;
a global positioning device for establishing the location of the object;
a direction device for determining heading of the thruster;
wherein said mobile controller application creates waypoint or routing data using collected location position data, heading data, and destination data;
an electronic controller for receiving the routing data;
wherein said electronic controller uses said routing data to create control signals;
and a steerable thruster for receiving the control signals for controlling thrust and directional heading of the vessel towards a waypoint or route.
14) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein said peripheral input device is a tablet.
15) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein said peripheral input device is a smartphone.
16) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein said electronic control further comprises a mount for securing said electronic control on the outer drive shaft tube of a trolling motor.
17) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein said mobile controller application utilizes data representing routes, waypoints, or maps.
18) The electronic control system of claim 13 further comprising a screen for viewing maps to choose routes.
19) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein the direction device is contained within the electronic controller.
20) The electronic control system of claim 13 wherein uploaded destination data is saved to the cloud.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus for optical determination of distance to a feature, said apparatus comprising:
a) a beam generation unit for launching a reference beam on a reference path and a first beam on a first path;
b) a rotation mechanism for rotating said reference path and said first path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, wherein said line of said reference path and said line of said first path are non-parrallel, and wherein said reference beam moves over said feature at a reference time tr and said first beam moves over said feature and at a first time t1;
c) a determination unit for determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam over said feature and from said times tr, t1.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of said reference path and said first path further comprise a non-collinear folded path portion.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said rotation mechanism comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of mirrors, refractive elements, diffractive elements and holographic elements.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said reference path and said first path are in a common plane \u03a3.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said determination unit comprises a detector for detecting said reference beam and said first beam.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said beam generation unit comprises a reference source for launching said reference beam and a first source for launching said first beam.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said beam generation unit comprises an active array of sources.
8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said reference source and said first source have distinct generation modes for endowing said reference beam and said first beam with mutually distinguishing properties.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said distinguishing properties are selected from the group consisting of polarization, wavelength, temporal beam format and intensity.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said distinguishing properties comprise wavelength and said determination unit comprises at least one wavelength filter.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said determination unit comprises a reference detector for detecting said reference beam and a first detector for detecting said first beam.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said beam generation unit launches a second beam on a second path chosen such that said center is along a line of said second path, said rotation mechanism rotates said second path such that said second beam moves over said feature at a second time t2, and said determination unit determines said angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam from said times tr, t2.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said beam generation unit comprises a second source for launching said second beam, and wherein said second source has a distinct generation mode for endowing said second beam with a distinguishing property selected from the group consisting of polarization, wavelength, temporal beam format and intensity.
14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein said reference path, said first path and said second path are in a common plane \u03a3.
15. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an angular velocity unit for measuring said angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam, said angular velocity unit being in communication with said determination unit.
16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said feature is selected from the group consisting of micro-structure and macro-structure.
17. An apparatus for optical determination of distance to a feature, said apparatus comprising:
a) a beam generation unit for launching a reference beam on a reference path, a first beam on a first path and a second beam on a second path;
b) a rotation mechanism for rotating said reference path, said first path and said second path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, whereby said reference beam moves over said feature at a reference time tr, said first beam moves over said feature and at a first time t1 and said second beam moves over said feature at a time t2;
c) a determination unit for determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam over said feature from said times tr, t1, and determining said angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam from said times tr, t2.
18. An apparatus for optical determination of distance to a feature, said apparatus comprising:
a) a radiation detection unit for detecting radiation on a reference path and on a first path;
b) a rotation mechanism for rotating said reference path and said first path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, wherein said line of said reference path and said line of said first path are non-parrallel, and whereby said radiation from said feature is detected on said reference path at a at a reference time tr and on said first path at a first time t1;
c) a determination unit for determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference path over said feature and from said times tr, t1.
19. A method for optical determination of distance to a feature, said method comprising:
a) launching a reference beam on a reference path and a first beam on a first path;
b) rotating said reference path and said first path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, wherein said line of said reference path and said line of said first path are non-parrallel, and whereby said reference beam moves over said feature at a reference time tr and said first beam moves over said feature at a first time t1;
c) determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam over said feature and from said times tr, t1.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising adding a non-collinear folded path portion to at least one of said reference path and said first path.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein said step of rotating is performed with at least one element selected from the group consisting of mirrors, refractive elements, diffractive elements and holographic elements.
22. The method of claim 19, wherein said reference path and said first path are arranged in a common plane \u03a3.
23. The method of claim 19, further comprising endowing said reference beam and said first beam with mutually distinguishing properties.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein said distinguishing properties are selected from the group consisting of polarization, wavelength, temporal beam format and intensity.
25. The method of claim 19, further comprising:
a) launching a second beam on a second path chosen such that said center is along a line of said second path;
b) rotating said second path together with said reference path and said first path about said center such that said second beam moves over said feature at a second time t2; and
c) determining said angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam from said times tr, t2.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising endowing said second beam with a distinguishing property.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein said distinguishing property is selected from the group consisting of polarization, wavelength, temporal beam format and intensity.
28. The method of claim 25, wherein said reference path, said first path and said second path are in a common plane \u03a3.
29. The method of claim 19, further comprising measuring said angular velocity \u03c9 with an angular velocity unit.
30. The method of claim 19, wherein said feature is selected from the group consisting of micro-structure and macro-structure.
31. A method for optical determination of distance to a feature, said method comprising:
a) launching a reference beam on a reference path, a first beam on a first path and a second beam on a second path;
b) rotating said reference path, said first path and said second path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, whereby said reference beam moves over said feature at a reference time tr, said first beam moves over said feature at a first time t1 and said second beam moves over said feature at a time t2;
c) determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam over said feature and from said times tr, t1,
d) determining said angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference beam from said times tr, t2.
32. A method for optical determination of distance to a feature, said method comprising:
a) providing a reference path and a first path for a radiation;
b) rotating said reference path and said first path about a center along a line of said reference path and not along a line of said first path, wherein said line of said reference path and said line of said first path are non-parallel, and whereby radiation from said feature is detected on said reference path at a reference time tr and on said first path at a first time t1;
d) determining a distance r from said center to said feature from an angular velocity \u03c9 of said reference path over said feature and from said times tr, t1.