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:
Aug. 08, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 29, 1999
Charles E Heger, Saratoga, CA (US);
William M Sunlin, San Jose, CA (US);
Zircon Corporation, Campbell, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
An impulse radar system useful, for instance, for ground penetration provides three dimensional images of targets. The radar system includes an antenna array with an arrangement of elements that is irregular so that the spacing between elements is different, thereby minimizing redundancy of path geometry between the array elements and the target. This feature reduces unwanted array sidelobes. The radar system incorporates circuitry which permits the utilization of each array element as either a transmitter or receiver antenna element. This dual utilization increases the effective number of elements in the antenna array, providing increased gain and system resolution. The radar system receiver utilizes multiple antenna array receiver elements, each of which is connected sequentially, through a solid state switch, to a single analog to digital converter, thereby providing a digitized signal for processing and display. This arrangement requires only a single analog to digital converter, thereby reducing size, cost, and errors due to analog to digital converter non-linearities.