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US 12,111,139 B2Granted
Directed-energy weapon shield
AssigneeBAE SYSTEMS plc
InventorNicholas Giacomo Robert Colosimo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is provided a vehicle for protecting an entity against directed-energy weapons, comprising: a housing; and a shield for absorbing or reflecting a laser beam, the shield, in use, extending in a plane from the housing. There is also provided a system of vehicles and a method of coordinating a plurality of vehicles to protect an entity against directed-energy weapons.
Claims14
A system for protecting an entity against directed-energy weapons, the system comprising:
- a plurality of vehicles for protecting an entity against directed-energy weapons, each of said vehicles comprising:
- a housing;
- and
- a shield for blocking a laser beam, the shield, in use, extending from the housing;
- at least one controller operative to control the positions of the vehicles;
- at least one sensor for detecting a laser beam and generating data relating to the laser beam;
- and
- a controller for making position and/or attitude adjustments to the vehicle based on the data, wherein the data comprises at least one of the angle of attack of the laser beam, relative to the vehicle, the strength of the laser beam, and a footprint of the laser beam.
5 more elements
A method of coordinating a plurality of vehicles to protect an entity against directed-energy weapons, comprising:
- defining, as a command vehicle, a vehicle in the plurality;
- storing, by one or more storage devices located on one or more of the vehicles, a list of positions of each vehicle and a position of a laser weapon;
- using the list of positions of each vehicle and the position of the laser weapon, determining, by one or more processors on the command vehicle, a shield configuration achievable by the plurality of vehicles that places the greatest number of shields between an entity associated with the plurality of vehicles and the laser weapon in the densest manner possible;
- and
- sending, from the command vehicle to each vehicle a movement command that causes the respective vehicle to move to achieve the shield configuration,
- wherein each vehicle comprises at least one sensor for detecting a laser beam and generating data relating to the laser beam,
- wherein the data comprises at least one of the angle of attack of the laser beam, the strength of the laser beam, and the footprint of the laser beam, and
- wherein the step of determining a shield configuration achievable by the plurality of vehicles that minimises the probability of an entity associated with the plurality of vehicles being struck by a laser beam fired by the laser weapon utilizes the data.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.