Scannerless ladar architecture employing focal plane detector arrays and FM-CW ranging theory
US5877851A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 24, 1997 |
| Grant date | Mar 2, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 24, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S7/486
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A laser transmitter is amplitude modulated with a chirp signal to illumin an entire scene or field of view. A mixing process occurs in the received light path using an electro-optic light modulator positioned just in front of the focal plane detector array. The detector array detects and integrates the mixed light signal over some field of view. Numerous image frames are recorded periodically in the time over the FM period. The Fourier transform taken over time for a pixel establishes the range to the target in that pixel. Performing the Fourier transform for all pixels yields a three-dimensional image of objects in the field of view. Such an arrangement yields a scannerless ladar possessing high range resolution with no range ambiguities.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.