US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

Travis S Taylor

Wayne E Davenport

John J Ehrlich

Don A Gregory

Debbee J Jordan

Peter S Erbach

Gauge C Day

Christopher M Duron

Debbee B Jordan

Jessica L Shrontz

A modular satellite chassis includes frame rails having at least two front frame rails and two back frame rails. Transverse parallel ribs are disposed on the interiors of the front and back frame rails. The ribs on the front frame rails correspond in location to one another and to the ribs on the back frame rails. Each rib has a central longitudinal axis and a narrow first slot disposed along the central longitudinal axis. The ribs are spaced apart by wider second slots. Trays are slidingly received by the second slots on the front frame rails and the corresponding second slots on the back frame rails. A left side panel is connected to an outside of one of the front frame rails and one of the back frame rails. A right side panel is connected to an outside of the other front frame rail and the other back frame rail.

Fast, swappable modular tray and rack structure

A method is disclosed by which filters are created optically in real time&mdash;and tested. This technique is made possible by recent advances in Charge Couple Detector (CCD) detector array technology. Pixel (picture element) size has decreased to the point that real fringes can be detected and displayed. The fringes result from the interference of the optical Fourier transform of a displayed scene with a specified plane wave. Phase information is thus preserved. This is the critical information required in producing a hologram or a holographic matched filter.

Real-time analog creation of holographic fourier transform matched filters

A pair of matched filters describing a pre-selected category of objects is ade, each of the filters having a center located at a unique place in the filter. When incorporated into a MACE filter and used in an optical correlator, a line drawn through the correlation peaks caused by the centers of the matched filter pair and a pre-selected axis together produce an angle that is indigenous to that particular category of objects, thus identifying the category of objects.

Method for distinguishing between objects using mace filters

The spinning mine has all of its projectiles concentrated in one small ar It is launched from a spring-loaded threaded screw launcher and acquires angular momentum as it ascends into the air from the launcher to a pre-determined detonation altitude. As the mine spins, the detector assembly on board detects the presence and location of potential targets and sends appropriate indicative signals to a microprocessor, also on board. The microprocessor determines therefrom the location of the largest target or the largest cluster of targets in the environment and triggers the detonation of the mine such that the projectiles are jettisoned in a conical pattern toward the largest target or the largest cluster of targets for a more efficient destruction of the targets.

Spinning mine with concentrated projectiles

The first identification device located on first vehicle embeds a pre-detined pattern in an outgoing radiation and detects radiation incoming from a second identification device located on second vehicle. The two identification devices are identical to each other in their function. The first device phase-conjugates the incoming radiation and the result is combined with the pattern-containing radiation. The combination is then emitted toward the second device along the exact same optical path as the one taken by the incoming radiation in accordance with the principle of phase conjugation. The second device isolates the pattern from the combination radiation and, if the pattern is recognized, identifies the first vehicle as friendly. The the second device may engage in the same sequence of beamings as performed by the first device to identify itself (the second object to the first object. The utilization of phase conjugation eliminates the need for complex aimers in directing radiation toward objects as well as removing any atmospheric distortions from the radiation on its return trip.

Device and method for object identification using optical phase

This invention provides a means for detecting local atmospheric contaminants from safe distances. The invention means of a detector system comprise a pulsed laser, a sensitive photo-detector, various optical filters, and necessary digital control circuitry. The detector system employs laser technology in combination with a sensitive photo-detector to achieve detection of any hazardous gas elements or other pollutants remotely located from personnel who may subsequently be exposed. In operation, a pulsed laser or a tunable dye laser is employed as an excitation source for the contaminant or pollutant to achieve excitation of the contaminant or pollutant. When the excited molecule of the contaminant or pollutant returns to ground-state it emits a photon at a given (measurable) frequency. A sensitive photo-detector is filtered to permit detection of only the frequency at which a harmful gas (as an example of a contaminant or pollutant) fluoresces. Various filters can be utilized at once to enable the detector to detect more than one pollutant at a time. A timer in the system determines time elapse from the time the laser is pulsed to the time a photon is detected, the location of the gas pollutant can then be determined. Similarly, by relating distance and intensity of fluorescence via the detector, the density of the gas pollutant in the local atmosphere can be determined. The entire system is controlled by simple compact digital technology.

Atmospheric contaminant detector

The structure of this invention provides a means for shielding an optically ensitive detector, device, or components from electromagnetic fields without shielding them from the optical spectra desired to be transmitted. The structure of the invention is in the form of an optically transmissive Faraday cage or box having optically transparent material selected from optical glass and optically transparent plastic which functions as a substrate. The substrate is provided a thin film of predetermined skin depths in the form of a conductive coating selected from silver and a nickel-chromiumiron-manganese-silicon-copper-alloy. The conductive coating is applied in a thickness equivalent to a predetermined number of skin depths in order to attenuate an external electromagnetic field strength to meet the tolerance of the detector, device, or components which are to be shielded.

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Somerville, AL, United States of America

Travis S Taylor