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US 8,620,023 B1Granted
Object detection and location system
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorLeonard A. Plotke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting objects. An object detector associated with a platform and configured to detect a number of objects is used to monitor for the number of objects. In response to detecting the number of objects, a number of distances to the number of objects detected by the object detector are measured using a distance measurement system. A number of geographic locations for the number of objects is identified using the number of distances, a location of the platform, and an orientation of the distance measurement system.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a platform;
- an object detector associated with the platform and configured to detect a number of objects;
- a distance measurement system associated with the platform and configured to measure a number of distances to the number of objects detected by the object detector;
- a location system associated with the platform and configured to identify a location of the platform;
- an orientation identification system associated with the platform and configured to identify an orientation of the distance measurement system;
- and
- a controller associated with the platform and configured to identify a number of geographic locations for the number of objects using the number of distances, the location of the platform, and the orientation of the distance measurement system,
- wherein the controller is configured to identify a center for each object in the number of objects to form a number of centers and direct the distance measurement system to measure the number of distances to the number of centers for the number of objects,
- wherein the geographic location for each object is identified based on the controller measuring
- an elevation angle measured with respect to a line of sight between the location of the platform and each object and a first plane formed by a first axis defined through the location of the platform and the center of the earth, and a second axis orthogonal to the first axis and being parallel to a line of latitude, and
- an azimuth angle measured with respect to the line of sight between the location of the platform and a second plane formed by the first axis and a third axis orthogonal to the first axis and being parallel to a line of longitude.
8 more elements
A method for detecting objects, the method comprising:
- monitoring for a number of objects using an object detector associated with a platform and configured to detect the number of objects;
- responsive to detecting the number of objects, measuring a number of distances to the number of objects detected by the object detector using a distance measurement system;
- identifying a number of geographic locations for the number of objects using the number of distances, a location of the platform, and an orientation of the distance measurement system, wherein the geographic location for each object is identified based on measuring
- an elevation angle measured with respect to a line of sight between the location of the platform and each object and a first plane formed by a first axis defined through the location of the platform and the center of the earth, and a second axis orthogonal to the first axis and being parallel to a line of latitude, and
- an azimuth angle measured with respect to the line of sight between the location of the platform and a second plane formed by the first axis and a third axis orthogonal to the first axis and being parallel to a line of longitude;
- and
- identifying a number of speeds for the number of objects and a number of trajectories for the number of objects.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.