Communication-less bistatic ranging

A receiver for communication-less bistatic ranging, the receiver comprising:

• a photodetector configured to receive, and record timing of, incoming photons;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• decode an encoded pulse timing of the incoming photons to generate a detected signal;
• cross-correlate the detected signal with each one of a plurality of sub-codes to identify a sub-code of the plurality of sub-codes;
• calculate a length of a path traversed by the incoming photons from a transmitter to a target and to the photodetector based on a cross-correlation of the detected signal and the identified sub-code;
• identify a dynamic state of a transmitter based on the identified sub-code;
• and
• calculate a location of the target based on the length of the path traversed by the incoming photons and the identified dynamic state of the transmitter.

A bistatic ranging system for identifying a location of a target, the bistatic ranging system comprising:

• a transmitter comprising:
• a photon emitter configured to emit a plurality of photons at particular times in a pointing direction;
• and
• a first processor configured to:
• identify a particular sub-code of a plurality of sub-codes based on a dynamic state of the transmitter;
• generate a plurality of encoded pulse timings by dithering pulse timings from a nominal repetition frequency based on the particular sub-code;
• and
• control the photon emitter to emit the plurality of photons at the plurality of encoded pulse timings;
• and
• a receiver comprising:
• a photodetector configured to receive, and record timing of, incoming photons;
• and
• a second processor configured to:
• decode an encoded pulse timing of the incoming photons to generate a detected signal;
• cross-correlate the detected signal with each one of a plurality of sub-codes to identify a sub-code of the plurality of sub-codes;
• and
• calculate a location of the target based on a cross-correlation of the detected signal and the identified sub-code.