Range doppler self-referencing imaging system

• Main Author: O'MEARA; THOMAS R
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 06.03.1990
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING

A self-referencing target imaging system 10 capable of long range imaging at visible wavelengths is disclosed herein. The imaging system 10 of the present invention includes a transmitter 20 for illuminating a target 30 with a series of electromagnetic pulses P. The present invention further includes an apparatus 35, 40 and 45 for redirecting first R1 and second R2 reflections of each illuminating pulse P from first 32 and second 34 portions of the target 30, respectively. A frequency modulator 50 driven by a generator 55 shifts the frequency of each first reflection R1 to produce a reference reflection R1' corresponding to each illuminating pulse P. The present invention further includes an arrangement of reflective elements 60 and 65 for respectively combining the reference R1' and the second R2 reflections of each illuminating pulse P to generate a series of combined reflections. A detector 70 generates an imaging signal in response to the series of respectively combined reflections.