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:
Jun. 14, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 27, 1993
Paul P Audi, Newport, RI (US);
Michael A Deaett, North Kingston, RI (US);
Stephen G Johnson, Little Compton, RI (US);
Raytheon Company, Lexington, MA (US);
Abstract
A sonar system is provided for mapping the bottom of a body of water to identify a submerged foreign object. A sequence of the sonar pulses is transmitted and directed toward the bottom. The mapping is formed from a sequence of echo returns. Each one of the echo returns is produced as a range scan in a range direction response to a corresponding one of the transmitted sonar pulses. The sonar system stores signals representative of the intensity of the echo returns in a two dimensional array of pixels. Each one of the pixels represents the intensity of the echo return at a predetermined range position from the system in the range direction and a predetermined cross-range position from a reference position of the system in the cross-range direction. The system quantizes the intensity of each one of the pixels into one of a plurality of levels, and compares the distribution of the levels of pixels over a range scan at a cross-range position with the distribution of levels of pixels over a range scan having a different cross-range position to identify the existence of an underwater object.