Liquid crystal waveguide steered active situational awareness sensor
US9927515B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 24, 2015 |
| Grant date | Mar 27, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 21, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02F1/29
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An active situational sensor achieves SWaP-C and SNR improvements by using a liquid crystal waveguide to steer a spot-beam onto a conical shape of a fixed mirror, which redirects the spot-beam to scan a FOV. The sensor may rapidly scan a 360° horizontal FOV with a specified vertical FOV or any portion thereof, jump discretely between multiple specific objects per frame, vary the dwell time on an object or compensate for other external factors to tailor the scan to a particular application or changing real-time conditions. The sensor can be used to provide object intensity or ranging in complex, dynamic systems such as aviation, air traffic control, ship navigation, unmanned ground vehicles, collision avoidance, object targeting etc.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.