Method for remotely determining sea surface roughness and wind speed at a water surface
First Claim
1. A method for gauging roughness of a surface comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a signal from that is moving with respect to a transducer;
receiving on said transsducer said signal directly from said source;
receiving on said transducer said signal indirectly from said source by way of a reflection of said signal from said surface;
summing said directly and indirectly received signals to form a summed signal; and
using said summed signal as an indicator of surface roughness.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Transmitted signals are used to remotely assess sea surface roughness and nce wind speed at a water surface. A signal is transmitted from a signal source as it moves either through air or space. A land- or sea-based antenna receives the signal directly from the signal source and indirectly from the signal source by way of reflection of the signal from the surface being examined. The sum of the directly and indirectly received signals form an interference pattern as the signal source is moved. The interference pattern has peak-to-null signal values that are characteristic of the surface conditions being analyzed. Reference interference patterns are then generated for known surface conditions, each of the reference patterns exhibiting "known" characteristic peak-to-null signal values. The peak-to-null signal values of the reference interference patterns are then compared to the peak-to-null signal values generated from the surface being examined. The reference interference pattern having known peak-to-null signal values most closely resembling the peak-to-null signal values generated from the surface being examined is determined. The known surface conditions of this reference interference pattern are then equated with the unknown surface conditions of the surface being examined. By using this technique one can determine the surface conditions of a sea surface as well as the wind speed present at such a surface.
16 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for gauging roughness of a surface comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a signal from that is moving with respect to a transducer; receiving on said transsducer said signal directly from said source; receiving on said transducer said signal indirectly from said source by way of a reflection of said signal from said surface; summing said directly and indirectly received signals to form a summed signal; and using said summed signal as an indicator of surface roughness. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for gauging the roughness of a water surface comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a signal from a signal source that is moving with respect to a transducer; receiving on said transducer said signal directly from said signal source; receiving on said transducer said signal indirectly from said signal source by way of a reflection of said signal from said water surface; summing said directly and indirectly received signals to form a summed signal; and using said summed signal as an indicator of surface roughness of said water surface. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for gaging surface conditions comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting a signal from a source; (b) receiving on a transducer said signal directly from said signal source; (c) receiving on said transducer said signal indirectly from said source by way of a reflection of said signal from a surface of unknown surface conditions; (d) moving said source with respect to said transducer; (e) repeating steps a, b and c as said source moves; (f) generating an interference pattern from said directly and indirectly received signals, said interference pattern depicting a signal characteristic with respect to a measurement indicative of distance between said source and said transducer, said interference pattern exhibiting characteristic peak-to-null signal values; (g) generating reference interference patterns for a plurality of known surface conditions, each of said reference interference patterns exhibiting known characteristic peak-to-null signal values; (h) comparing said known characteristic peak-to-null signal values with the characteristic peak-to-null signal values from step f; (i) finding the reference interference pattern having known characteristic peak-to-null signal values most closely resembling those determined in step f; and (j) equating said unknown surface conditions with the known surface conditions of the reference interference pattern found in step i. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification