Viewing systems
AssigneeThe Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
InventorHerbert A. French
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Abstract
The invention relates to a pulsed laser viewing system adapted to view range intervals in a scene by gating the detector signal; according to the invention, the viewing system also includes a switching device for repetitive interchange of the range interval viewed so that the image contrast of a viewed target may be repetitively alternated between positive and negative. The switching device may operate to interchange either the detector gating time periods or the detector signal channel. Alternatively, the switching device may operate to interchange time delays applied to the detector signal before gating.
Claims9
A laser-assisted viewing system including at least one laser arranged for repetitive pulsing, at least one detector to detect laser pulses after reflection or scattering from a scene, detector signal gating means to define two range intervals within the scene for viewing by the said system, means to register an image of any defined range interval, and switching means to repetitively interleaf said two defined range intervals from which the registered images are received whereby a target within a first of said two defined range intervals is alternately detected by reflection of transmitted energy and in silhouette by backscattering of transmitted energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.