US 2016/0097839 A1Published application

Sensor suite and signal processing for border surveillance

AssigneeVista Research, Inc.

InventorsPhillip A. Fox, Joseph W. Maresca, JR.

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A land-based Smart-Sensor System and several system architectures for detection, tracking, and classification of people and vehicles automatically and in real time for border, property, and facility security surveillance is described. The preferred embodiment of the proposed Smart-Sensor System is comprised of (1) a low-cost, non-coherent radar, whose function is to detect and track people, singly or in groups, and various means of transportation, which may include vehicles, animals, or aircraft, singly or in groups, and cue (2) an optical sensor such as a long-wave infrared (LWIR) sensor, whose function is to classify the identified targets and produce movie clips for operator validation and use, and (3) an IBM CELL supercomputer to process the collected data in real-time. The Smart Sensor System can be implemented in a tower-based or a mobile-based or combination system architecture. The radar can also be operated as a stand-alone system.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor, configure the processor to perform operations comprising:

transmitting a plurality of radar pulses by a non-coherent radar toward an area of interest;
receiving a radar return scattered from the area of interest, the radar return including a return from a target and interference from system noise and background noise and clutter;
and
processing the radar return for at least one range-azimuth resolution cell in the area of interest to differentiate the return from the target from the interference from the system noise and background noise and clutter, the processing including:
applying at least one threshold to differentiate the target from the noise and system noise and the background clutter;
comparing the radar return to a first threshold of the at least one threshold, the first threshold set at a level to identify multiple radar contacts including the target and false contacts from the interference from system noise and background noise and clutter, wherein a radar contact is declared when the radar return exceeds the first threshold;
and
tracking the multiple radar contacts over time to distinguish the target from the false contacts.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/708,953Filed 11 May 2015
Priority: 8 Jun 2006
Published: 7 Apr 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G01S 7/2922
Based on data belonging to one radar period: by using a controlled threshold
G01S 13/522
Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds: using transmissions of interrupted pulse modulated…
G01S 13/723
For two-dimensional [2D] tracking, e.g. combination of angle and range tracking, track-while-scan radar: by using numerical data
G01S 13/867
Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder: combination of radar systems with cameras

Family

Application60/804,251Us provisional application · filed 8 Jun 2006
Application11/811,353Continuation · filed 8 Jun 2007
Application13/710,131Continuation · filed 10 Dec 2012
Application14/708,953Continuation
US 2011/0001657 A1Published application
US 2014/0062757 A1Published application
US 8,330,647 B2Related patent
US 9,030,351 B2Related patent
US 9,696,409 B2Related patent
US 2016/0097839 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.