Device with infrared search head for detection and engagement of enemy helicopters
AssigneeBuck Werke GmbH & Co.
InventorBernt Obkircher
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An infrared search device for the detection and engagement of enemy helicopters is so designed that an IR Sensor in the focal plane of the IR Optics of the search head includes a 2-demensional matrix of point-shaped detector cells. The detector cells operate in a wavelength range of between 3 and 14 um or a fraction thereof. To determine the offset angle of the helicopter from the optical axis of the device, the cells are interrogated individually and in succession by an analysis unit in such a manner that all measurement values are obtained almost simultaneously.
Claims7
An infrared search head that is designed to locate and engage enemy helicopters from above by detecting modulated infrared radiation given off by a helicopter and determining an offset angle of the helicopter with respect to an optical axis, comprising:
- an infrared optical unit having an optical axis and defining a focal plane;
- an infrared sensing unit comprised of a two-dimensional matrix of thousands of point-shaped detector cells having a sensitivity to infrared radiation in the wavelength range of 3-14 micrometers and having a detection capacity D* of at least 10.sup.10 cm W.sup.-1 Hz.sup.1/2 for converting incident infrared radiation into electrical signals;
- and
- a signal analysis unit for measuring the amplitudes of the electrical signals generated by said detector cells individually and in succession at a rate that is sufficiently fast to determine the frequency of modulation of the electrical signals generated by said detector cells, to thereby determine the offset angle of a helicopter relative to said optical axis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.