System and method for non-contact identification of a passive target

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016173196-A1
Application number	US-201414570196-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method includes a laser transmitter configured to form a transmitted laser beam and a laser receiver configured to receive a reflected beam based on the transmitted laser beam. An identification (ID)-filter includes a substrate, a retarder filter and a reflector, where the transmitted beam passes through the retarder filter and is reflected back through the retarder filter in an opposite direction, to the laser receiver. A processor connected with a memory executes instructions stored in the memory to determine polarization properties of the reflected beam with respect to the transmitted laser beam to determine an address of the ID-filter.

First claim

1 . A system, comprising:
a first laser transmitter configured to form a first transmitted laser beam with a first wavelength; a second laser transmitter configured for a second transmitted laser beam with a second wavelength different from the first wavelength; a first laser receiver; a second laser receiver; an identification (ID)-filter including, a retarder filter, a first reflector, a linear polarizer, and a second reflector, wherein the ID-filter is arranged such that the first transmitted laser beam passes through the retarder filter and is reflected by the first reflector towards the first laser receiver through the retarder filter to generate a first reflected laser beam and the second transmitted beam passes through the linear polarizer and is reflected by the second reflector towards the second laser receiver through the linear polarizer to generate a second reflected laser; and a processor connected with a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to determine polarization properties of the reflected beam with respect to the first transmitted laser beam to determine an address of the ID-filter and to process the second reflected laser to determine an orientation of the retarder filter for processing the first reflected laser beam to determine the address.

2 . The system of claim 1 , where the ID-filter includes a filter property.

3 . The system of claim 1 , where the ID-filter is positioned on a target to identify the target based on the determined address.

4 . The system of claim 1 , further including a receiver and a polarimeter connected with the processor, to the receiver to receive the reflected beam and the polarimeter to output a stokes vector.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The system of claim 1 , where the linear polarizer includes a reference angle to determine an orientation of the retarder filter.

7 . The system of claim 1 , where the linear polarizer is coupled to the retarder filter.

8 . The system of claim 1 , where the first reflector comprises a retro-reflector.

9 . The system of claim 1 , where the first reflector comprises an array of retro-reflectors.

10 . A method, comprising:
sending a first laser beam of a first wavelength to a retarder filter of the first wavelength; reflecting the first laser beam after the first laser beam passes through the retarder filter to provide a first reflected laser beam; receiving the first reflected laser beam; processing the first reflected laser beam to determine an address of the retarder filter; sending a second laser beam at a second wavelength to a linear polarizer; reflecting the second laser beam after the second laser beam passes through the linear polarizer to provide a second reflected laser beam; receiving the second reflected laser beam; and processing the second reflected laser beam to determine an orientation of the retarder filter for processing the first reflected laser beam to determine the address.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising identifying a target based on the address.

12 . (canceled)

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing retro-reflective arrays configured to reflect the first laser beam and the second laser beam.

14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising a filter to filter the first laser beam with the first wavelength before the first laser beam reaches a polarization filter.

15 . An identification filter, comprising:
a first lambda filter at a first wavelength, the first lambda filter configured to receive a first laser beam at the first wavelength; a polarization filter connected with the first lambda filter, the polarization filter comprising a retarder filter including a determined filter retardance; a first reflector connected with the retarder filter, the first reflector to reflect the first laser beam back through the polarization filter and the first lambda filter to provide a first reflected laser beam, where the first reflected laser beam comprises a polarization property for providing an address; a second lambda filter at a second wavelength, the second lambda filter configured to receive a second laser beam at the second wavelength; a linear polarizer connected with the second lambda filter, the linear polarizer including a polarization orientation; and a second reflector connected with the linear polarizer, the second reflector to reflect the second laser beam back through the linear polarizer and the second lambda filter to provide a second reflected laser beam, where the second reflected laser beam is used to provide a reference angle to determine an orientation of the retarder filter to provide an additional address.

16 .- 18 . (canceled)

19 . The identification filter of claim 15 , where the first reflector comprises an array of retro-reflectors.

20 . The identification filter of claim 15 , where the first reflector comprises a retro-reflector.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Norman Jeffrey B
• Seiden Harold N
• Widen Kenneth C

Classifications

• G01S17/04

  Systems determining the presence of a target · CPC title

• G01S7/499

  using polarisation effects · CPC title

• G01S17/74 Primary

  Systems using reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. IFF, i.e. identification of friend or foe · CPC title

• H04B10/1123

  Bidirectional transmission · CPC title

• H04B10/671

  for controlling the input optical signal · CPC title