| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080204731 | OPTICAL DEVICE WITH TILT AND POWER MICROLENSES - A microlens array includes plural powered microlenses or microlens elements for tilting different light-emitting elements or portions of a light-emitting device. Each microlens or microlens element both has optical power, and adjusts the tilt of the wavefront so that in combination the individual microlenses act like a more complex multiple-element optic where each element shifts light from only a portion of the light-emitting device. Such an optical device may be incorporated into eyewear for projecting subtitles or other information above or below a far-away image, such as on a movie screen. Another potential use of the microlens array is for use in a heads-up display. Still another potential use for the microlens array to provide soft focusing of emitted laser light to achieve a target light spot of a desired diameter. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20090001214 | MULTIPLE KILL VEHICLE (MKV) INTERCEPTOR AND METHOD FOR INTERCEPTING EXO AND ENDO-ATMOSPHERIC TARGETS - By sharing tasks between the CV and the KVs, the MKV interceptor provides a cost-effective missile defense system capable of intercepting and killing multiple targets. The placement of the acquisition and discrimination sensor and control sensor on the CV to provide target acquisition and discrimination and mid-course guidance for all the KVs avoids the weight and complexity issues associated with trying to “miniaturize” unitary interceptors. The placement of a short-band imaging sensor on each KV overcomes the latency, resolution and bandwidth problems associated with command guidance systems and allows each KV to precisely select a desirable aimpoint and maintain track on that aimpoint to impact. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090046902 | METHOD OF BORESIGHT CORRELATION OF IMAGER VIDEO TO REFERENCE VIDEO - The present invention provides for simple and streamlined boresight correlation of FLIR-to-missile video. Boresight correlation is performed with un-NUCed missile video, which allows boresight correlation and NUC to be performed simultaneously thereby reducing the time required to acquire a target and fire the missile. The current approach uses the motion of the missile seeker for NUCing to produce spatial gradient filtering in the missile image by differencing images as the seeker moves. This compensates DC non-uniformities in the image. A FLIR image is processed with a matching displace and subtract spatial filter constructed based on the tracked scene motion. The FLIR image is resampled to match the missile image resolution, and the two images are preprocessed and correlated using conventional methods. Improved NUC is provided by cross-referencing multiple measurements of each area of the scene as viewed by different pixels in the imager. This approach is based on the simple yet novel premise that every pixel in the array that looks at the same thing should see the same thing. As a result, the NUC terms adapt to non-uniformities in the imager and not the scene. | 02-19-2009 |
| 20090078817 | ABSOLUTE TIME ENCODED SEMI-ACTIVE LASER DESIGNATION - SAL designation uses absolute time coding of the pulse-stream to disambiguate the designator in a manner that reduces the number of pulses in a pulse-stream and reduces the total pulse energy on the target. This requires timing synchronization between the designator and receiver. For improved rejection of unintended returns, more precise time gating (narrower absolute time window) is required. This can be achieved by removing the path length and or firing time uncertainty errors. Absolute time coding reduces the number of pulses and total energy on target in two ways. First, the designator may only have to transmit the pulse-code once. The “spot” appears for the brief time associated with a pulse-stream and disappears; continuous lasing of the target is not required. Second, the designator can be disambiguated using a combination of pulse-code (relative spacing of pulses) and pulse-position (absolute timing of pulses) modulation. This allows the pulse-stream to be shortened considerably, perhaps to a single pulse. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20090103776 | Method of Non-Uniformity Compensation (NUC) of an Imager - The present invention provides for simple and streamlined boresight correlation of FLIR-to-missile video. Boresight correlation is performed with un-NUCed missile video, which allows boresight correlation and NUC to be performed simultaneously thereby reducing the time required to acquire a target and fire the missile. The current approach uses the motion of the missile seeker for NUCing to produce spatial gradient filtering in the missile image by differencing images as the seeker moves. This compensates DC non-uniformities in the image. A FLIR image is processed with a matching displace and subtract spatial filter constructed based on the tracked scene motion. The FLIR image is resampled to match the missile image resolution, and the two images are preprocessed and correlated using conventional methods. Improved NUC is provided by cross-referencing multiple measurements of each area of the scene as viewed by different pixels in the imager. This approach is based on the simple yet novel premise that every pixel in the array that looks at the same thing should see the same thing. As a result, the NUC terms adapt to non-uniformities in the imager and not the scene. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090299674 | OPTICAL DISTORTION CALIBRATION FOR ELECTRO-OPTICAL SENSORS - Optical distortion calibration for an Electro-Optical sensor in a chamber eliminates calibration of the mirror controller and allows for calibration while the target is in motion across the FOV thus providing a more efficient and accurate calibration. A target pattern is projected through sensor optics with line of sight motion across the sensor FOV to generate a sequence of frames. Knowing that the true distances between the same targets remain constant with line of sight motion across the sensor's FOV. coefficients of a function F representative of the non-linear distortion in the sensor optics are fit from observed target positions in a subset of frames to true line of sight so that distances between targets are preserved as the pattern moves across the FOV. The coefficients are stored as calibration terms with the sensor. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20100208951 | IRIS RECOGNITION USING HYPER-SPECTRAL SIGNATURES - The spectral diversity of the iris can be used as a unique biometric identifier. By careful selection of a number of spectral bands, four or more, the hyper-spectral signature derived from data contained in those bands can distinguish color signatures that are not visually distinguishable in RGB color space to uniquely identify a person. Classification of hyper-spectral signatures requires less spatial resolution than the classification of texture signatures, maybe an order of magnitude or more. This reduces the size of the sensor aperture required at a given range. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20110051149 | OPTICAL APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE ATTITUDE OF AN OBJECT IN OUTER SPACE - An optical apparatus and method for measuring the attitude of an object in outer space includes an optical system having an aperture to receive optical radiation and a focal plane to image the optical radiation and an aperture-sharing element attached to the optical element and at least partially surrounding an optical path into the aperture. The aperture-sharing element directs optical radiation from a field of view of the aperture-sharing element to a corresponding first portion of the focal plane to provide multi-axis stellar attitude measurements, and the aperture receives optical radiation along the optical path into the aperture and directs the optical radiation to a second portion of the focal plane. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110103692 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROCESSING DATA USING NON-LINEAR SLOPE COMPENSATION - Systems and devices for processing image or other data using non-linear methods to compensate for localized slopes are described. In one implementation, the slope of the sample values in an image or other dataset is estimated in one or more directions using a non-linear filter, such as a median filter. The values of at least some of the samples of interest are compensated using the estimated slope values to remove the effects of the slope. The compensated values may then be processed to determine if the target is present in the samples of interest, or for any other purpose. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110125441 | OPTICAL DISTORTION CALIBRATION FOR ELECTRO-OPTICAL SENSORS - Optical distortion calibration for an Electro-Optical sensor in a chamber eliminates calibration of the mirror controller and allows for calibration while the target is in motion across the FOV thus providing a more efficient and accurate calibration. A target pattern is projected through sensor optics with line of sight motion across the sensor FOV to generate a sequence of frames. Knowing that the true distances between the same targets remain constant with line of sight motion across the sensor's FOV, coefficients of a function F representative of the non-linear distortion in the sensor optics are fit from observed target positions in a subset of frames to true line of sight so that distances between targets are preserved as the pattern moves across the FOV. The coefficients are stored as calibration terms with the sensor. | 05-26-2011 |
