Millimeter-wave area-protection system and method
First Claim
1. An area-protection system comprising:
- sensors to detect an intruder within a protected area;
an active-array antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter the intruder when detected within the protected area; and
one or more reflectors positioned within the protected area to help retain energy of the wavefront within the area,wherein the active-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arrnged together on a substantially flat surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An area-protection system uses an active-array antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter an intruder within a protected area. One or more reflectors may be positioned within the protected area to help retain energy of the wavefront within the area. The area-protection system may include an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of the intruder within the protected area and to generate a detection signal. The active-array antenna may generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection signal. In some embodiments, the intrusion-detection subsystem may detect the presence of a tag worn by the intruder, and may instruct the array antenna to refrain from generating the wavefront when tag is authenticated. In some embodiments, an illuminator may be used detect intruder movement based on return signals. In some embodiments, the array antenna includes semiconductor wafers arranged together on a substantially flat surface.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. An area-protection system comprising:
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sensors to detect an intruder within a protected area; an active-array antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter the intruder when detected within the protected area; and one or more reflectors positioned within the protected area to help retain energy of the wavefront within the area, wherein the active-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arrnged together on a substantially flat surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An area-protection system comprising:
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an active-array antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter an intruder within a protected area; one or more reflectors positioned within the protected area to help retain energy of the wavefront within the area; and an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect a presence of the intruder within the protected area and generate a detection signal for the active-array antenna, wherein the active-array antenna is to generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection signal, and wherein the high-power wavefront is to increase a skin temperature of the intruder to deter the intruder. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. An area-protection system comprising:
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an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder; and an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising an active-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder, the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter the intruder, wherein the active-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged together on a surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An area-protection system comprising:
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an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder; and an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder, wherein the high-power wavefront increases a skin temperature of the intruder, and wherein the system further comprises a thermal-sensing subsystem to measure the skin temperature and to generate a control signal for the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem to maintain the skin temperature either within a predetermined temperature range or below a predetermined temperature. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. An area-protection system comprising:
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an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder; and an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder, wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem includes a biometric lock to determine whether the intruder is one or either a biological entity or a non-biological entity, the intrusion-detection subsystem to generate a biological-identification signal when a biological entity is detected, wherein the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem generates the high-power wavefront in response to the biological-identification signal, and wherein the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem refrains from generating the high-power wavefront when a non-biological entity is detected. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. An area-protection system comprising:
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an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder; and an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder, wherein the passive reflect-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged on an at least partially parabolic surface to reflect a spatially-fed incident millimeter-wave signal to generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront, wherein each semiconductor wave comprises a receive antenna coupled to a transmit antenna to respectively receive and retransmit the spatially-fed incident millimeter-wave signals, and wherein the receive and transmit antennas have orthogonal polarizations.
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21. An area-protection system comprising:
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an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder; and an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder, wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem is to detect the presence of a tag worn by the intruder, wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem instructs the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem to refrain from generating the wavefront when the tag is authenticated by the intrusion-detection subsystem.
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22. A method of protecting an area comprising:
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detecting a presence of an intruder; and generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder, wherein when the generating is performed with an active-array antenna, the method comprises generating the wavefront with a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged together on a surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront, and wherein when the generating is performed with a passive reflect-array antenna, the method comprises generating the wavefront with a plurality of passive antenna elements by receiving and retransmitting an incident millimeter-wave signal. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of protecting an area comprising:
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detecting a presence of an intruder; generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-aray antenna or a passive reflect-aray antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder; increasing a skin temperature of the intruder with the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront; measuring the skin temperature; and generating a control signal to maintain the skin temperature either within a predetermined temperature range or below a predetermined temperature. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. A method of protecting an area comprising:
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detecting a presence of an intruder; generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder; detecting a presence of a tag worn by the intruder; authenticating the tag; and refraining from generating the wave front when tag is authenticated.
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Specification