Noise reducing infrared reticle/detector arrangement

Abstract

The electronic simplicity of a rotating-telescope target acquisition device and the noise immunity and wide field of view of a non-rotating array device are combined in an assembly (10) using a rotating refractory telescope (21) on a gimbaled platform (28) and a combination reticle (38) and infrared detector array (34) on the same platform (28). The detector array (34) is segmented (50) to detect the direction in which a target is substantially off the telescope's optical axis (32), and the detector array (34) is also shielded (35) against any radiation coming from outside the optical path of the telescope (21). The reticle (38) also serves as the electrical connection (42,62) between the detector segments (40,50) and the contact pads (44,64) on the detector plate (36) and as a non-emitting shield against any external radiation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.