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:
Apr. 01, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 29, 1990
Anthony J Campillo, Springfield, VA (US);
Alan L Huston, Springfield, VA (US);
Brian L Justus, Springfield, VA (US);
Thomas J Manuccia, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Government of the United States, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A system for protecting ships from attack by an infrared-seeking missile is provided which comprises decoying the missile by deploying an aerosol. In one embodiment, the aerosol merely scatters a modulated light beam. Another embodiment deploys particles that can undergo an exothermic photochemical reaction when initiated by an ultraviolet laser. The laser projects an image of the ship onto the aerosol and at the same time causes the particles to generate sufficient heat to attract the infrared-seeking missile away from the ship. This system presents an infrared-decoy target with a suitable infrared image of appropriate spatial scale to mislead a missile with imaging capability. The spectral content of the decoy's image resembles that of a blackbody 20.degree.-50 .degree. C. above ambient, and has a brightness and spatial extent equal to the largest ships, approximately 10 kw/steradian, in the 3-5 and 8-12 micrometer bands. The present invention is simple to use, rapidly deployed, and capable of presenting a decoy target that can last at least a minute or more.