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US 5,668,555 AGranted
Imaging system and apparatus
OwnerJon E. Starrinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A three dimensional imaging system that utilizes an ultra-wideband radar circuit, a focused radar antenna, an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) means which includes a translational software program for translating radar signals received from the radar circuit into signals representing three dimensional coordinates, a memory means 13 for storing the translated signals, and a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program means for processing the translated signals into three dimensional images.
Claims8
An imaging system for producing a three-dimensional image of an object, comprising:
- a plurality of ultra-wideband rapid sampler radar circuits which transmit and receive electrical voltage pulses;
- a programmable memory means operatively connected with the plurality of ultra-wideband rapid sampler radar circuits for receiving and translating the electrical voltage pulses into signals representing three dimensional coordinates of the object;
- and
- a computer aided design means operatively connected to the programmable memory means for receiving and processing the signals representing three dimensional coordinates into a three-dimensional image of the object;
- wherein the plurality of ultra-wideband sampler radar circuits are arranged in rotational relationship with respect to one another and positioned a fixed distance from the object.
2 more elements
An apparatus for producing three-dimensional images of a scanned object, comprising:
- a plurality of ultra-wide band radar circuits, each circuit operating as a pulse-echo system producing high speed electrical voltage pulses, each voltage pulse having a transmitted portion and a corresponding echo portion;
- a plurality of transmit antennas connected to corresponding ultra-wideband radar circuits for transmitting the transmitted portion of the electrical voltage pulses;
- a plurality of receiver antennas connected to corresponding ultra-wideband radar circuits for receiving the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulses;
- a means for sampling the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulses, such that each transmitted portion is matched with its corresponding echo portion;
- a programmable memory means cooperatively connected to the plurality of ultra-wideband radar circuits for receiving and storing the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulse;
- translating means within the programmable memory means for translating the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulses into corresponding X, Y and Z coordinates;
- and
- a computer-aided design means attached to the programmable memory for receiving and processing the X, Y and Z coordinates to produce a three-dimensional image representative of the object.
5 more elements
A system for producing three-dimensional images of a scanned object comprising:
- a plurality of ultra-wideband radar circuits, each of said circuits include a pulse repetition interval generator, a fixed reference delay means connected to the pulse repetition interval generator, a transmit pulse generator connected to the reference delay means, a transmit antenna connected to the transmit pulse generator, an adjustable delay means connected to the pulse repetition interval generator, a gating pulse generator connected to the adjustable delay means, an ultra-wideband radar receiver connected to the gating pulse generator, a receiver antenna connected to the ultra-wideband receiver, and a signal processing means connected to the ultra-wideband receiver, said transmit antenna emitting an electrical voltage pulse, said voltage pulse traveling to a point on, in or within said object, said ultra-wideband receiver sampling said voltage pulse at a time corresponding to a two way echo time of said voltage pulse;
- a programmable memory means cooperatively interconnected to each of said ultra-wideband radar circuits to receive each of said voltage pulses;
- translating means within the programmable memory means for translating the voltage pulses into X, Y and Z coordinates representative of an area on and within the object;
- memory means operatively connected to the programmable memory means for storing the X, Y and Z coordinates corresponding to the translated voltage pulses;
- and
- computer-aided design means communicating with said programmable memory means and the memory means, for processing each of the translated voltage pulses to produce a three-dimensional image of the object.
3 more elements
A method for effecting the three dimensional scanning and image reproduction of an object, comprising the steps of:
- producing an electrical voltage pulse from each of a plurality of ultra-wideband radar circuits, each electrical voltage pulse having a transmitted portion and a corresponding echo portion;
- transmitting the transmitted portion of the electrical voltage pulses from an antenna associated with each ultra-wideband radar circuit;
- receiving the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulse via receiving antennas associated with the ultra-wideband radar circuits by opening a sampling gate also associated with the ultra-wideband radar circuits, the sampling gates providing a means for relating a particular transmitted portion of the electrical voltage pulse with its corresponding echo portion;
- transmitting the echo portion of the electrical voltage pulse to a programmable memory means, wherein the echo portion is stored;
- translating the stored echo portion of the electrical voltage pulse into signals representing three dimensional coordinates of an area of the object being scanned;
- storing the signals representing the three dimensional coordinates in a memory storage means;
- and
- processing the translated pulse signals into an image representative of the area on and within the object being scanned, said processing being performed by a computer aided design means resonant in a microprocessor.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.