1988-04-07
1989-12-12
Arnold, Bruce Y.
350486, G02B 2608
Patent
active
048863300
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
Apparatus and method for use in conjunction with an electro-optical sensor for searching and scanning hemispherical object space to find and locate potential targets.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to passive and active electro-optical imaging systems for searching object space. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus and method for searching hemispherical volumetric object space for potential targets allowing such target information to be visually viewed and/or provided to weapons delivery systems.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
Presently, there exist many types of imaging systems for searching object space considered to be potential targets and providing target position information to a computer for processing and then provided to a weapons delivery system to initiate and guide projectiles and/or missiles to the selected target. Such target position information may also be provided to a visual display device, such as a cathode ray tube or the like, allowing visual review of the selected target to aid the computer operator in the identification and prioritization of the selected target(s).
Many radar systems and subsystems have been developed for searching hemispherical object space, particularly ground based, vehicle mounted and ship mounted systems. Unfortunately, electro-optical systems for searching hemispherical space has been extremely limited.
More particularly, electro-optical scanning systems typically have extremely limited fields of view (FOV) on the order of two to ten degrees determined by the scanner mechanism in a forward looking Infar-Red (FLIR). The narrow field of view substantially inhibits the use of the FLIR as an electro-optical searching system to seek out and locate targets within a wide field of search.
One attempt to utilize FLIR with its incorporated scanning subsystem having narrow fields of view for searching is to mount the entire sensor onto an oscillating and rotating gimbal assembly, commonly referred to as a platform, such that the entire FLIR or other electro-optical sensor of the system is panned in an X and Y direction to search a portion of object space within a predefined field of search (FOS). However, in addition to the complexity of the platform itself, the concept of mounting a sensor onto an oscillating and rotating platform is tremendously hampered for two major reasons.
First, the mercury-cadmium-tellurium detectors commonly used in a FLIR require cryogenic cooling during operation. Cryogenic cooling sources must, because of their weight, be mounted off the platform and connected to the FLIR without interfering with the rotational and elevational movement of the platform. The difficulty of implementing such connection between the cryogenic source and the FLIR, and the multitude of electrical interfaces and the like, dramatically increases as the field of search of the platform increases. Consequently, platform-mounted electro-optical scanners usually include very limited fields of search. A second significant problem with electro-optical imaging systems, is the fact that they incorporate scanning devices in and of themselves. While staring systems (with mosaic detectors) are being developed for some wavelengths, commonly implemented scanning systems tend to, and will, smear the image, when panned azimuthally and elevationally. The quality of target detection and recognition thereby degrades while increasing the false alarm rate.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices-and methods and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the art of electro-optical and mechanical imaging systems.
Another object of this invention is to provide means for utilizing conventional and operational state of the art electro-optical components and design to search large areas of object space such as hemispherical object space.
Another object of this invention is to provide means for searching
REFERENCES:
patent: 2958783 (1960-11-01), Taylor
patent: 3087986 (1963-04-01), De Brosse
patent: 3219822 (1965-11-01), Kutzsuher et al.
patent: 3917381 (1975-11-01), Feigin
Arnold Bruce Y.
Kalamarik Ronald M.
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