Line scan area signature detection system
First Claim
1. An area signature detection system arranged to receive the output of a sensor operative in the electromagnetic spectrum, comprising at least one area signature detector, said area signature detector connected to receive as an input, an output signal from the sensor involving an amplitude varying electrical signal representing the field of view beheld by the sensor, said area signature detector having gating means for selecting portions of such signal from the sensor representing related portions of the field of view, area signature synthesizer means receiving the output from said gating means and serving to provide a unique real time representation of each related portion of the sensor field of view selected by said gating means, said representation being in the form of an area signature, memory means for storing such signature, means for comparing such stored signature with a new signature obtained by further operation of said area signature detector, and means for generating an error signal proportional to the degree of similarity between such new signature and the stored signature.
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Abstract
An area signature detection system arranged to receive an output from a sensor operative in the electromagnetic spectrum, where the output from the sensor is an amplitude varying electrical signal representing the field-of-view beheld by the sensor, and to utilize this high frequency information in such a manner that low frequency scene content, necessary for area correlation processing, can be extracted and effectively utilized. Our invention involves certain highly advantageous techniques for generating area signatures from line scan sensors, and may be applied to cartesian, circular or polar scan formats. In one particular embodiment of our invention, we describe how orthogonally disposed area signatures can be used to generate area correlation tracking signals that can be used in the derivation of appropriate missile guidance commands. Our teachings are also useful in providing line-of-sight stabilization for fire control systems, alignment and position errors for landing and hovering control systems, as well as intrusion detection systems. In the case of a system using a television camera as the sensor, this invention provides a way of obtaining an operator display and system control signals despite the fact that only a single such sensor is used.
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Citations
42 Claims
- 1. An area signature detection system arranged to receive the output of a sensor operative in the electromagnetic spectrum, comprising at least one area signature detector, said area signature detector connected to receive as an input, an output signal from the sensor involving an amplitude varying electrical signal representing the field of view beheld by the sensor, said area signature detector having gating means for selecting portions of such signal from the sensor representing related portions of the field of view, area signature synthesizer means receiving the output from said gating means and serving to provide a unique real time representation of each related portion of the sensor field of view selected by said gating means, said representation being in the form of an area signature, memory means for storing such signature, means for comparing such stored signature with a new signature obtained by further operation of said area signature detector, and means for generating an error signal proportional to the degree of similarity between such new signature and the stored signature.
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23. Apparatus comprising:
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means for generating a current electronic signature of selected related portions of a field of view; display means electrically connected to said current electronic signature generating means for displaying the field of view including the selected portions represented by said electronic signature; means for storing a reference electronic signature; and
,means for correlating said current electronic signature with said stored reference electronic signature and for generating tracking signals responsively to the correlation whereby said electronic signature may be utilized both for tracking and display. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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- 25. An area signature detection system arranged to receive an output from a sensor operative in the electromagnetic spectrum, the sensor being a synchronizable scanning sensor having a line divisible time base, where the output from the sensor is an amplitude varying electrical signal representing the field of view beheld by the sensor, said area signature detection system comprising an area signature detector, and memory means used therewith, said area signature detector including input means, gating means, area signature synthesizer means, signature processor means, and output means, said input means being used to receive the output from the sensor, said gating means receiving the output from said input means and serving to provide related selected segmental portions of the sensor field of view to said area signature synthesizer means, said area signature synthesizer serving to provide a unique real time representation of the selected related portions of the field of view selected by said gating means and being the real time area signature in the form of an amplitude varying electrical signal, said signature processor means receiving the output from said area signature synthesizer and serving to process and condition the real time area signature into a form which may be stored in said memory means and utilized as the real time output of said area signature detector, said real time area signature being one output of said area signature detector, another output of said area signature detector being a stored signature from said memory means, with these two outputs thereafter being provided to an error processor for the generation of error signals proportional to the degree of similarity between said real time area signature and said stored area signature.
Specification