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Patent Number: |
H2224 |
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Case ID: |
0 |
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Patent Title:
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Self-calibrating large baseline interferometer formed from two aircraft
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Status: |
ACTIVE |
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Status Date: |
2/3/2010 10:51:52 AM |
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Issue Date:
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10/7/2008 |
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Filed Date:
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10/14/2005 |
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Serial #:
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1/251,003 |
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Assignee Name:
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The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
(Washington,
DC)
N/A
(
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Inventor(s):
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Madden, Thomas L. |
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS
The present document is somewhat related to my issued U.S. Patents "SELF-CALIBRATING LARGE BASELINE INTERFEROMETER FOR VERY PRECISE EMITTER LOCATION USING TIME DIFFERENCE OF ARRIVAL" and "TIME DIFFERENCE OF ARRIVAL RATE", U.S. Pat. No.
6,255,992, issued Jul. 3, 2001; and "MOVING EMITTER PASSIVE LOCATION FROM MOVING PLATFORM", U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,272, issued Jun. 10, 2003, and both commonly assigned to The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force.
The contents of these, my somewhat related issued patents, are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of remote energy-emitting source location through passive received signal processing.
Although radio locating has been used since the early days of radio, current military apparatus with its limited output signal durations and the availability of computerized signal processing, f . . . . More |
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A method to passively locate an emitter using two aircraft to form a large
baseline interferometer. The basic two element (two aircraft or
helicopters) large baseline interferometer includes self-calibration and
allows for various configurations for geo-location of ground-based
emitters. The two aircraft large baseline interferometer can measure
phase difference of arrival (PDOA) to very precisely locate the emitter
in angle. Moving emitters can also be located and tracked using the
method of the invention with greater accuracy than can be achieved from a
single platform.
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What is claimed is:
1. A multiple configuration, self-calibrating baseline interferometer radio frequency emitter locating apparatus using two aircraft comprising the combination of: a first
search aircraft containing a first radio frequency measurement receiver, a first radio frequency antenna and a first variable delay component; means for determining a path distance between said first radio frequency measurement receiver and said first
radio frequency antenna; a second aircraft containing a second radio frequency measurement receiver, a second radio frequency antenna and a second variable delay component; means for determining a path distance between said second radio frequency
measurement receiver and said second radio frequency antenna; time difference of arrival, phase difference of arrival and phase difference of arrival rate processing apparatus disposed in each of said first and second radio frequency measurement
receivers of said first and second aircraft; and s . . . . More |
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