The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 26, 2021
Filed:
Jul. 31, 2018
Bae Systems Plc, London, GB;
Nicholas Giacomo Robert Colosimo, Preston, GB;
BAE Systems plc, London, GB;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method suitable for use in a sense and avoid system of a vehicle having a hyperspectral imaging system, the method comprising: estimating the range to an object from the vehicle, wherein estimating the range comprises: measuring the emission spectrum of the object using the hyperspectral imaging system; identifying at least one trough and/or discontinuity in the emission spectrum by subtracting the measured emission spectrum from a perfect blackbody emission spectrum; and searching a storage means storing spectral radiances and/or wavelengths of troughs and/or discontinuities, each with an associated known atmospheric path length, for the corresponding spectral radiance and/or wavelength of the identified at least one trough and/or discontinuity in order to estimate the atmospheric path length, and consequently the range, between the object and the vehicle. The present invention also provides a sense and avoid system for performing the same method.