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:
Jul. 24, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 29, 1999
Peter M. Livingston, Palos Verdes Estates, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A laser tracking system steers a beam of laser energy which is dithered in two directions to scan the surface of a moving object. A laser energy detector detects laser energy reflected from the target. Reflected energy is filtered to distinguish dither frequencies for signals in both directions, which signals are independently analyzed to determine the location of the target in relation to the laser beam. A bias signal is generated which causes the beam of laser energy to be steered toward a surface radius to be steered toward a surface with the largest compound curvature within the trackers, field-of-regard, to the target, to the tracked location on-target, or modified signals steer a portion of the beam to an optimum track location on target while offsetting most of the beam's energy to a second engagement location on target. Also, a track testing system is capable of monitoring a laser beam focused on a missile and determining the effective laser engagement on a spinning target.