AIRBORNE OPTOELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT FOR IMAGING, MONITORING AND/OR DESIGNATING TARGETS

• US 20170214879A1
• Filed: 07/09/2015
• Published: 07/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: PERRUCHOT, Ludovic, BECHE, Arnaud, DEPRUGNEY, Fabien, RABAULT, Denis, DEPARDON, Bruno
• Granted Patent: US 10,659,717 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 43/00 Arrangements or adaptations of instruments arrangements of cameras B64D47/08; aeronautical measuring instruments per se G01C
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44504 Circuit details of the additional information generator, e.g. details of the character or graphics signal generator, overlay mixing circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

An airborne optronic equipment item comprises: at least one image sensor suitable for acquiring a plurality of images of a region flown over by a carrier of the equipment item; and a data processor configured or programmed to receive at least one acquired image and transmit it to a display device; wherein the data processor is also configured or programmed to: access a database of images of the region flown over; extract from the database information to synthesize a virtual image of the region which would be seen by an observer situated at a predefined observation point and looking, with a predefined field of view, along a predefined line of sight; synthesize the virtual image; and transmit it to a display device. A method for using such an equipment item is provided.

Claims

1. An airborne optronic equipment item comprising:

at least one image sensor, suitable for acquiring a plurality of images of a region flown over by a carrier of said equipment item; and

a data processor configured or programmed to receive at least one said acquired image and transmit it to a display device);

wherein said data processor is also configured or programmed to;

access a database of images of said region flown over;

extract from said database information making it possible to synthesize a virtual image of said region which would be seen by an observer situated at a predefined observation point and looking, with a predefined field of view, along a predefined line of sight;

synthesize said virtual image; and

transmit it to said or to another display device.

2. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, in which said database comprises at least:

a numerical model of the terrain of said region; and

a plurality of ortho-rectified air or satellite images or SAR of said region, said images being geolocated;

and in which said data processor is configured or programmed to synthesize said virtual image by projection of one or more of said air or satellite images onto said numerical model of the terrain.

3. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said database also comprises vector mapping data, and wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to incorporate some of said data in said virtual image.

4. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to enrich said database with images acquired by said or at least one said image sensor.

5. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to receive, from a geolocation device, information on the position of said carrier of the equipment item or of another carrier, as well as information indicative of a line of sight of an image sensor embedded on this carrier, and to synthesize a virtual image corresponding to said line of sight and to an observation point having the same position as said carrier.

6. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 5, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to display said virtual image in place of an image acquired by said embedded image sensor in case of masking or insufficient visibility.

7. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 5, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to merge said virtual image and an image acquired by said embedded image sensor with a same line of sight and a same field of view.

8. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 5, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to synthesize one said virtual image, having a same observation point and a same line of sight as an image acquired by said embedded image sensor, but a wider field of view, and to insert said image acquired by said embedded image sensor in said virtual image.

9. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 5, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to synthesize a plurality of said virtual images corresponding to points of view close to the position of an image sensor embedded on said carrier, as determined by said geolocation device, and to recompute said position by correlation between an image acquired by said sensor and said virtual images.

10. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 5, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to:

receive, from said or at least one said image sensor, embedded on said carrier of the equipment item, at least one image of said region flown over by a carrier of said equipment item, and display it on a first display device embedded on the same carrier;

receive, from another carrier, information on the position of said carrier, as well as on the line of sight and the field of view of at least one image sensor embedded on said other carrier;

synthesize a virtual image corresponding to said line of sight and to an observation point having said position, and display it on a second display device distinct from said first display device and embedded on said carrier of the equipment item.

11. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, also comprising an embedded data storage device in which said database is stored.

12. The airborne optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data processor is configured or programmed to drive said or at least one said image sensor for it to acquire at least one said image of said region flown over according to a line of sight and with a field of view that are defined.

13. An airborne optronic equipment item for designating targets as claimed in claim 1.

14. A method implemented by an optronic equipment item as claimed in claim 1, comprising the following steps:

receiving, from a geolocation device, information on the position of the carrier of the equipment item or of another carrier, as well as information indicative of a line of sight of an image sensor embedded on this carrier;

accessing a database of images of said region flown over and extracting therefrom information making it possible to synthesize a virtual image corresponding to said line of sight and to an observation point having the same position as said carrier;

synthesizing said virtual image; and

transmitting it to a display device.