LIDAR light fence to cue long range LIDAR of target drone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10408936-B2
Application number	US-201715443173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2017
Priority date	Mar 11, 2016
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

A system comprising includes a plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors disposed to provide a set of fanned beams that travel from one horizon into the air to the other horizon arranged to provide a light fence to detect an object that breaks the light fence and a sensor processor connected to the plurality of three dimensional multi-beam line-scanner LIDAR sensors to establish a vector of travel and a velocity of the object that passes through the multi-beam light fence at the location of where the beams are broken.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors disposed to provide a set of fanned beams that travel from one horizon into the air to the other horizon arranged to provide a light fence to detect an object that breaks the light fence; and
a sensor processor connected to the plurality of three dimensional multi-beam line-scanner LIDAR sensors to establish a vector of travel and a velocity of the object that passes through the multi-beam light fence at the location of where the beams are broken wherein the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors are arranged along a line to provide the light fence along the line and networked together.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 comprising a plurality of light fences deployed around a perimeter of an area to be protected.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the line of the light fence is surveyed so that a break in the fence is translated into a global coordinate system.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein a break in the light fence provides an initial search space for a tracking sensor.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein a break in the light fence provides initial vector information to a tracking sensor.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors provide an initial detection of an object and triggers a long range sensor to acquire and track the object detected by at least one of the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein an object breaking the light fence defines a search space for a LIDAR tracking sensor to begin to search for the object to determine if it is a threat.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 comprising a camera to provide visual information to supplement the information provided by the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors.

9. A method comprising:
providing a set of fanned beams that travel from one horizon into the air to the other horizon arranged to provide a light fence to detect an object that breaks the light fence; and
providing a vector of travel and a velocity of the object that passes through the light fence at the location of where the beams are broken wherein the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors are arranged along a line to provide the light fence along the line and networked together.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing a plurality of light fences deployed around a perimeter of an area to be protected.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising translating points along the line of the light fence into a global coordinate system.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising providing initial coordinates of a break in the light fence to a tracking sensor.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing initial vector information to a tracking sensor in response to a break in the light fence.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing a search space to a LIDAR tacking sensor to search for the object to determine if a threat exists.

15. A detection system for detecting drones comprising:
a plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors disposed to provide a set of fanned beams that travel from one horizon into the air to the other horizon arranged to provide a light fence to detect an object that breaks the light fence and provide an inbound vector wherein the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors are arranged along a line to provide the light fence along the line and networked together; and
a long range sensor, in response to the inbound vector, to acquire and track the object detected by at least one of the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors.

16. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein an object breaking the light fence defines a search space for a LIDAR tracking sensor to begin to search for the object to determine if it is a threat.

17. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein the plurality of three dimensional line-scanner LIDAR sensors are disposed on a side to provide the set of fanned beams.

18. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein the light fence is surveyed so that a break in the fence is also translated into a global coordinate system to aid the long range sensor to begin to search for the object to determine if it is a target drone.

Assignees

• Raytheon Bbn Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Van Voorst Brian R

Classifications

• G06V20/17

  taken from planes or by drones · CPC title

• B64U2201/10

  autonomous, i.e. by navigating independently from ground or air stations, e.g. by using inertial navigation systems [INS] · CPC title

• B64U2201/20

  Remote controls · CPC title

• B64U2101/15

  for conventional or electronic warfare · CPC title

• G01S17/86

  Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders · CPC title