Device executing intervisibility calculation
US5526260A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 8, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jun 11, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 8, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/06
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A device executing intervisibility calculation includes a mechanism executing a radial spoke scan pattern where individual radials are traversed beginning at a threat installation and extending outward along a radial to a distance corresponding to threat range capability. Intervisibility calculation is simplified to allow implementation in a simple, dedicated hardware engine to provide rapid execution time while ensuring accurate intervisibility results. The intervisibility engine includes lookup tables to provide precalculated data and advantageously avoids divide operations whereby the intervisibility calculation may be executed by use of a series of adds, subtracts, and multiplies relative to intervisibility data developed while traversing a given radial. The engine calculates a slope for each data post visited in traversing a radial, and identifies a data post as being visible when its associated slope is greater than a previously encountered greatest magnitude slope. The engine stores in a digital terrain elevation database an intervisibility ground reference value representing a magnitude of vertical clearance between a given data post elevation and a threat detection envelop…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.