Lockheed Martin Corporation

Loral Vought Systems Corporation

Lockheed Martin Vought Systems Corp.

Bruno J Evans

Gary Paul Perryman

Gary Kim Jenkins

Don A Larson

Thomas Hiromoto

Gene D Tener

Pradip Mitra

Mark A Dodd

Lionel D Liebman

Douglas E Pasquan

Christopher E Michael

Jillian L Roettiger

W Dale Cotten

David S DuBois

William Dale Cotten

Donald W Nimblett

Methods and systems for detecting optical components are disclosed. An optical signal comprising a plurality of light pulses is transmitted by a laser into a field of view (FOV) of a detector at a pulse repetition rate. A scene within the FOV is depicted to an eyepiece. The detector receives a plurality of reflected light pulses of the optical signal from a location within the scene during a first integration time period of the detector. At least one element of a display that is registered to the FOV is altered based on the plurality of reflected light pulses.

Detection of optical components in a scene

A solid nose cone and related components are disclosed. Embodiments include a front-end system for a laser-guided munition. The front-end system includes a solid nose cone that is optically transparent to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) of a particular wavelength. The solid nose cone is configured to pass EMR incident on the exterior surface to the trailing end. An optical relay adapter (ORA) has an EMR-receiving front face and an EMR-emitting rear face. The EMR-receiving front face is optically coupled to the trailing end, and the ORA is configured to relay the EMR from the EMR-receiving front face to the EMR-emitting rear face.

Solid nose cone and related components

An aerodynamic conformal nose cone and scanning mechanism is disclosed. Laser energy, from within a body of a missile, is directed through a solid, optically transparent nose cone. A detector in the body detects reflected laser energy that passes through the solid, optically transparent nose cone.

Aerodynamic conformal nose cone and scanning mechanism

An imaging system includes: a transmit side that generates a plurality of switched beam laser signals and scans each of the switched beam laser signals into a respective field of view by two polygon facets simultaneously of a polygonal mirror, the respective fields of view overlapping in at least a portion thereof; and a receive side that receives a plurality of reflections of the laser signals, detects them, and captures them as three-dimensional imagery data. A method includes: generating a plurality of switched beam laser signals from a single laser signal; scanning each of the switched beam laser signals in seriatim into a respective field of view by each of two polygonal facets of a polygonal mirror, the respective fields of view overlapping in at least a portion thereof; receiving reflections of the switched beam laser signals; and generating a set of three-dimensional imagery from the received reflections.

Multi-resolution, wide field-of-view, unmanned ground vehicle navigation sensor

A method and apparatus for enhancing the resolution of three-dimensional imagery data are disclosed. The method includes registering a frame of the three-dimensional imagery data with a template frame; and temporally averaging the registered frame with the template frame. The apparatus includes a program storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computing apparatus, performs the method and an apparatus programmed to perform the method.

Method and apparatus for enhancing three-dimensional imagery data

The present invention, in its various aspects and embodiments comprises a optical multi-discriminant ('OMD') LADAR technique. The technique includes a method, comprising: receiving a dichroic, polarimetric optical signal simultaneously with radiation of a third wavelength from a field of view through a common aperture; and capturing three-dimensional, polarimetric data from each wavelength of the optical signal and two-dimensional data from the radiation. The technique also includes an apparatus, comprising: means for receiving a reflection of a polarimetric, dichroic optical signal and a second signal of a third wavelength, separating the optical signal from the second signal by wavelength, separating the dichroic constituents of the optical signal by wavelength, and separating the polarized elements of the dichroic constituents; and a common aperture through which the optical signal is transmitted and the reflection and the second signal are received.

Optical multi-discriminant LADAR

A laser radar system and a method for use in a laser radar system are disclosed. More particularly, the laser radar system includes a fiber laser capable of generating a laser signal; a first optical path through which the generated laser signal may be transmitted; a second optical path through which a reflection of the transmitted laser signal may be received; and a detector capable of detecting the received reflection. The method includes generating a laser signal from a fiber laser; transmitting the laser signal; receiving a reflection of the transmitted laser signal; and detecting the reflection.

Fiber laser ladar

A LADAR apparatus, a method of use associated therewith, and a method for remotely sensing targets in a field of view are disclosed. In the method, a target in a field of view is remotely sensed using a LADAR signal whose pixel spatial resolution is varied to achieve a desired pixel spatial resolution for the transmitted LADAR signal on the target. One way to do this is by rolling a LADAR signal to achieve the desired pixel spatial resolution at a given range then de-rolling the received reflection. This could involve, for instance, rolling the LADAR signal from a first angle at which it is generated to a second angle at which it is transmitted, and then receiving the reflection at that second angle and de-rolling it to the first angle again for detection. The LADAR apparatus could include a number of means for implementing this functionality. One particular apparatus that is suitable includes a LADAR signal transmitter; a transmission path; a receive path; a receiver; and an optical roll/de-roll mechanism. The optical roll/de-roll mechanism is capable of rolling the LADAR signal before transmission to achieve a desired pixel spatial resolution for the transmitted LADAR signal at a given range and de-rolling the reflection prior to detection.

Method and apparatus for varying pixel spatial resolution for ladar systems

A multi-spectral detector for use in a passive/active system and a method for use in identifying an object in a field of view are disclosed. The multi-spectral detection system comprises an optically dispersive element, a detector array, and an integrated circuit. The optically dispersive element is capable of separating received LADAR radiation and radiation received from a scene into a plurality of spectral components and distributing the separated spectral components; and a detector array. The detector array includes a plurality of detectors capable of detecting the LADAR radiation; and a plurality of detectors capable of detecting the spectral components of the scene radiation. The integrated circuit is capable of generating a plurality of electrical signals representative of predetermined characteristics of the detected LADAR radiation and the detected spectral components. The method comprises passively detecting scene radiation employing a detector array; and actively detecting LADAR radiation through the detector array in parallel with passively detecting the scene radiation.

Multi-spectral LADAR

A sensor assembly for imaging passive infrared (IR) scenes and active laser radar (LADAR) scenes and for generating multi-dimension image data sets, and a method for same. A two-dimensional semiconductor imager sensitive to both passive IR radiation and active LADAR radiation when used in conjunction with subsequent signal processing creates a two-dimension passive image data set and a three-dimension active image data set with common x and y coordinates. The passive image data set is collected substantially proximate in time with the active image data set. The two image data sets are combined to form a multi-dimension image data set with the surface of three-dimensional objects indicating heat emission. The sensor assembly applies to burst illumination LADARs operating at a variety of wavelengths and passive IR detection in the middle wavelength IR (MWIR) or long wavelength IR (LWIR).

Sensor assembly for imaging passive infrared and active LADAR and method for same

A method and apparatus for generating a range image and an intensity image of a target field is disclosed. The range image and the intensity image are fused into a single image that contains range and intensity information. In one embodiment, only a single range band is illuminated with colors in the fused image. This range band can be scrolled throughout the fused image to detect three dimensional features more clearly.

Fused lasar range/intensity image display for a human interpretation of

A method and apparatus for generating sharper and more accurate LADAR intensity images is disclosed. The LADAR system includes an optical transmitter and receiver that generates and scans a laser beam in a target field. A backscatter detector senses the magnitude of the generated laser beam. A signal processing unit uses the magnitude of the transmitted laser beam to adjust the magnitude of received reflections to produce a sharper intensity image.

Growing community of inventors

Keller, TX, United States of America

Bruno J Evans