Passive electro-optical tracker
US8355536B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 22, 2010 |
| Grant date | Jan 15, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 2, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06V10/62
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A passive electro-optical tracker uses a two-band IR intensity ratio to discriminate high-speed projectiles and obtain a speed estimate from their temperature, as well as determining the trajectory back to the source of fire. In an omnidirectional system a hemispheric imager with an MWIR spectrum splitter forms two CCD images of the environment. Three methods are given to determine the azimuth and range of a projectile, one for clear atmospheric conditions and two for nonhomogeneous atmospheric conditions. The first approach uses the relative intensity of the image of the projectile on the pixels of a CCD camera to determine the azimuthal angle of trajectory with respect to the ground, and its range. The second calculates this angle using a different algorithm. The third uses a least squares optimization over multiple frames based on a triangle representation of the smeared image to yield a real-time trajectory estimate.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.