Panoramic laser warning receiver for determining angle of arrival of laser light based on intensity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9448107-B2
Application number	US-201313939711-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2013
Priority date	Jul 12, 2012
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

A method and apparatus of detecting laser in a laser warning receiver is disclosed. A panoramic lens assembly utilized in cameras is combined with a laser detection focal plane. Incident laser light is refracted in the panoramic lens and made to illuminate a multiplicity of individual sensor elements. By determining the corresponding intensity of the laser light on the sensors, the angle of arrival resolutions superior to the element angular resolutions can be achieved. The combination of a panoramic lens with a laser detection focal plane provides a low cost laser warning for wrap around ground based situational awareness.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining angle of arrival of laser light, comprising coupling a panoramic camera lens with a radial element laser warning receiver focal plane;
illuminating at least one sensor utilized for determining intensity of said laser light; and
determining angle of arrival of said laser light based on intensity of said laser light.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said at least one sensor is a charge coupled device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said least one sensor is a multi-element hexagonal avalanche photodiode array.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said a panoramic camera lens and said focal plane provides wrap around ground based situational awareness.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein by determining intensity of the laser light on said sensor, the angle of arrival resolutions superior to the element angular resolutions is achieved.

6. An apparatus of determining angle of arrival of laser light, comprising a panoramic camera lens coupled with a radial element laser warning receiver focal plane; and
at least one sensor illuminated to determine angle of arrival of said laser light based on intensity of said laser light.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein said at least one sensor is a charge coupled device.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein said at least one sensor is a multi-element hexagonal avalanche photodiode array.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein said a panoramic camera lens and said focal plane provides wrap around ground based situational awareness.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein by determining intensity of the laser light on said sensor, the angle of arrival resolutions superior to the element angular resolutions is achieved.

Assignees

• Bae Sys Inf & Elect Sys Integ

Inventors

• Mcneish Allister

Classifications

• G01J1/4257 Primary

  applied to monitoring the characteristics of a beam, e.g. laser beam, headlamp beam (monitoring arrangements for lasers in general H01S3/0014) · CPC title

• G01J1/0411 Primary

  using focussing or collimating elements, i.e. lenses or mirrors; Aberration correction · CPC title

• G01S3/781

  Details · CPC title

• G01S3/784

  using a mosaic of detectors · CPC title

• G01J1/4228

  arrangements with two or more detectors, e.g. for sensitivity compensation · CPC title