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:
Oct. 15, 1996
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1995
Terrance L Worchesky, Columbia, MD (US);
Kenneth J Ritter, Sykesville, MD (US);
Robert J Martin, Orlando, FL (US);
Barry L Lane, Seminole, FL (US);
Martin Marietta Corp., King of Prussia, PA (US);
Abstract
A SAR radar has an optical processor which uses an electrical-signal-to-light modulator. The modulator includes a tapped delay line which may be either analog or digital, and the signals tapped from the delay line are applied to an array of temporary storage elements, which in the case of analog signals may be a capacitive sample-and-hold, or for digital signals may include storage registers. In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by comparison with a processor using an acoustic modulator, the signals tapped from the delay line are sampled at a display sampling rate, which is very low by comparison with the signal sampling rate or the highest frequency of interest, and the sampled signals are held until the next following display rate pulse. The signals held in the temporary storage elements are applied to the modulator elements, so that the optical pattern remains fixed for relatively long periods of time during which the optical processing can integrate photons for improved SNR.