Compact periscopic beam director
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for manufacturing a periscopic beam director, comprising:
- providing a Risley prism assembly having a rotation axis and beam deviation angle such that said perioscopic beam director has a solid angle coverage of at least 2π
steradians;
providing an azimuthal rotation axis;
providing a folded optical path that includes the Risley prism rotation axis and the azimuthal rotation axis;
mounting the Risley prism assembly at an angle θ
to the azimuthal rotation axis; and
providing a mechanism to rotate the Risley prism assembly and folded optical path about the azimuthal rotation axis.
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Abstract
A periscopic beam director is disclosed. The periscopic beam director can be configured with a hemispheric field of regard, in a volume that minimizes external structure or dome size when mounted on a host vehicle (e.g., airplane or UAV). One embodiment combines a Risley Prism refractive beam steering arrangement with an angled azimuthal mount. By using refraction in combination with reflection for changing the beam direction within an optical unit, a substantially more compact periscopic beam director can be realized.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for manufacturing a periscopic beam director, comprising:
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providing a Risley prism assembly having a rotation axis and beam deviation angle such that said perioscopic beam director has a solid angle coverage of at least 2π
steradians;providing an azimuthal rotation axis; providing a folded optical path that includes the Risley prism rotation axis and the azimuthal rotation axis; mounting the Risley prism assembly at an angle θ
to the azimuthal rotation axis; andproviding a mechanism to rotate the Risley prism assembly and folded optical path about the azimuthal rotation axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A periscopic beam director system, comprising:
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an azimuthal rotation axis; a Risley prism refractive beam steering assembly having a rotation axis, wherein the Risley prism refractive beam steering assembly is mounted at an angle θ
to the azimuthal rotation axis;a folded optical path that includes the Risley prism rotation axis and the azimuthal rotation axis; a mechanism to rotate the Risley prism refractive beam steering assembly and folded optical path about the azimuthal rotation axis; and said Risley prism refractive beam steering assembly having a deviation angle added to said angle θ
such that a beam directed by said perioscopic beam director system has an available elevation angle from at least 0°
to 90° and
said periscopic beam director system provides solid angle coverage of at least 2π
steradians. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A periscopic beam director system, comprising:
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an azimuthal rotation axis that is substantially perpendicular to a host vehicle surface and an optical dome center; a Risley prism assembly having a rotation axis, wherein the Risley prism assembly is mounted at an angle θ
to the azimuthal rotation axis; anda folded optical path having a first segment that is coincident with the Risley prism rotation axis and a second segment coincident with the azimuthal rotation axis, said first segment being, said first and second segments being disposed at opposite ends of a third optical path segment not coincident with either the Risley prism axis or the azimuthal rotational axis. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification