Infrared laser battlefield identification beacon

An identification system comprising identification equipment on an attacking vehicle and beacon equipment on a target vehicle;

• wherein the identification equipment comprises a trigger coupled to requestor unit which is coupled to a radio transmitter, a FLIR unit, a detector unit coupled to the FLIR unit and to the requester unit, and a display unit coupled to the detector unit;
• and wherein the beacon equipment comprises a beacon unit which has means for producing an infrared beam, a controller unit coupled to the beacon unit, and a radio receiver coupled to the controller unit;
• wherein the requestor unit includes means operative in response to pulling of the trigger by an operator (pilot) for preparing an identification request message, enabling the detector unit to search for a response, and passing the message to the radio transmitter to transmit a signal;
• wherein the radio receiver includes means for receiving said signal, and means operative in response thereto for initiating operation of the controller unit, and means whereby the beacon unit is controlled by the controller unit to produce at least two pulses of the infrared beam from the beacon unit, timed according to a given beacon code;
• wherein the FLIR unit includes means for receiving the infrared beam and in response thereto for passing pulse signals to the detector unit, and wherein the detector unit includes means responsive to said pulse signals for detecting pulses and causing a marker to be placed on the display unit over a symbol representing the identified target vehicle to mark it as friendly.

An infrared identification method using identification equipment on an attacking vehicle and an infrared beacon unit on a target vehicle;

• comprising the steps:
• pulling a trigger in the attacking vehicle;
• in response to a signal from the trigger, initiating a requestor unit in the identification equipment to look up target coordinates and radius, determine attack vehicle coordinates and altitude, generate code for a beacon response, inform a detector in the identification equipment unit of the code, instruct the detector unit to search for correctly coded responses, prepare an identification request message comprising target coordinates and radius, attack vehicle coordinates and altitude, and said code;
• transmitting a signal including said message;
• receiving said signal at the target vehicle to initiate operation of a controller unit at the target vehicle, the beacon unit being controlled by the controller unit to produce at least two infrared beam pulses, timed according to said code;
• receiving the infrared beam pulses at an FLIR unit in the identification equipment and via the detector unit detecting the pulses and causing a marker to be placed on the display unit over a symbol representing the identified target vehicle to mark it as friendly.