Millimeter-wave area-protection system and method

An area-protection system comprising:

• an active-array antenna to generate a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter an intruder within a protected area;
• one or more reflectors positioned within the protected area to help retain energy of the wavefront within the area;
• and
• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect a presence of the intruder within the protected area and generate a detection signal for the active-array antenna,
• wherein the active-array antenna is to generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection signal, and
• wherein the high-power wavefront is to increase a skin temperature of the intruder to deter the intruder.

An area-protection system comprising:

• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder;
• and
• an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising an active-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder, the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront to deter the intruder,
• wherein the active-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged together on a surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront.

An area-protection system comprising:

• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder;
• and
• an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder,
• wherein the high-power wavefront increases a skin temperature of the intruder, and
• wherein the system further comprises a thermal-sensing subsystem to measure the skin temperature and to generate a control signal for the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem to maintain the skin temperature either within a predetermined temperature range or below a predetermined temperature.

An area-protection system comprising:

• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder;
• and
• an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder,
• wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem includes a biometric lock to determine whether the intruder is one or either a biological entity or a non-biological entity, the intrusion-detection subsystem to generate a biological-identification signal when a biological entity is detected,
• wherein the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem generates the high-power wavefront in response to the biological-identification signal, and
• wherein the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem refrains from generating the high-power wavefront when a non-biological entity is detected.

An area-protection system comprising:

• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder;
• and
• an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder,
• wherein the passive reflect-array antenna comprises a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged on an at least partially parabolic surface to reflect a spatially-fed incident millimeter-wave signal to generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront,
• wherein each semiconductor wave comprises a receive antenna coupled to a transmit antenna to respectively receive and retransmit the spatially-fed incident millimeter-wave signals, and
• wherein the receive and transmit antennas have orthogonal polarizations.

An area-protection system comprising:

• an intrusion-detection subsystem to detect presence of an intruder;
• and
• an intrusion-inhibiting subsystem comprising one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna to provide a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder,
• wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem is to detect the presence of a tag worn by the intruder,
• wherein the intrusion-detection subsystem instructs the intrusion-inhibiting subsystem to refrain from generating the wavefront when the tag is authenticated by the intrusion-detection subsystem.

A method of protecting an area comprising:

• detecting a presence of an intruder;
• and
• generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder,
• wherein when the generating is performed with an active-array antenna, the method comprises generating the wavefront with a plurality of semiconductor wafers arranged together on a surface, each semiconductor wafer including a power amplifier and a transmit antenna which together generate the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront, and
• wherein when the generating is performed with a passive reflect-array antenna, the method comprises generating the wavefront with a plurality of passive antenna elements by receiving and retransmitting an incident millimeter-wave signal.

A method of protecting an area comprising:

• detecting a presence of an intruder;
• generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-aray antenna or a passive reflect-aray antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder;
• increasing a skin temperature of the intruder with the high-power millimeter-wave wavefront;
• measuring the skin temperature;
• and
• generating a control signal to maintain the skin temperature either within a predetermined temperature range or below a predetermined temperature.

A method of protecting an area comprising:

• detecting a presence of an intruder;
• generating a high-power millimeter-wave wavefront with one of either an active-array antenna or a passive reflect-array antenna in response to the detection of the intruder to deter the intruder;
• detecting a presence of a tag worn by the intruder;
• authenticating the tag;
• and
• refraining from generating the wave front when tag is authenticated.