Object tracking system having at least one angle-of-arrival sensor which detects at least one linear pattern on a focal plane array

US8237101B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• TELEDYNE SCIENTIFIC & IMAGING, LLC · US

Inventors

• William J. Gunning, III · Newbury Park, US
• Dale Hollis · Thousand Oaks, US
• Alexander A. Bogdanov · Simi Valley, US
• Steven Chen · Menlo Park, US
• Bing Wen · Poway, US
• Jian Ma · Thousand Oaks, US
• Donald Taber · Pompano Beach, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 29, 2009
• Grant date: Aug 7, 2012
• Expiry date: Jan 15, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06T2207/30204
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An optical tracking system comprises an array of point source emitters that output respective optical emissions, and a plurality of angle of arrival sensors. Each sensor comprises one or more optical elements and a focal plane array (FPA), with the optical elements arranged to resolve the optical emissions into one or more linear patterns on the FPA. A processing system in communication with the sensors establishes the orientation and position of each of the optical emitters using the linear patterns. A headgear tracking system employs point source emitters on a piece of headgear, with front and rear arrays of angle of arrival sensors located in an aircraft cockpit; a processing system in communication with the sensor arrays establishes an orientation and position for each of the optical emitters on the headgear.