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US 8,800,870 B1Granted
Short-wave infrared based scope
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsMichael K. Burkland, Christopher E. Thomas, Robert Rinker, Darrell R. Rogers, Byron B. Taylor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An infared-based scope configured to obtain and display video imagery that allows a user to estimate wind speed and direction over a trajectory to a target based on observed air motion in the video imagery. In certain examples, the scope further includes electronics configured to calculate the wind speed using video image processing techniques.
Claims20
An infrared scope comprising:
- an illuminator configured to emit an infrared illumination beam along a trajectory toward a target;
- an imaging detector configured to receive reflected infrared electromagnetic radiation from the illumination beam and to generate images of a scene including the target from the electromagnetic radiation, the image further including scintillation cells in the trajectory;
- a processor coupled to the imaging detector and configured to generate video imagery from the images generated by the imaging detector, movement of the scintillation cells in the video imagery being representative of wind speed and wind direction across the trajectory;
- and
- a display coupled to the processor and configured to display the video imagery.
2 more elements
A method of providing an estimate of wind speed and direction over a trajectory to a target comprising:
- illuminating a scene including the trajectory with infrared electromagnetic radiation;
- obtaining infrared-based video imagery of the scene, the video imagery including moving scintillation cells in the trajectory;
- and
- displaying the video imagery including the moving scintillation cells to allow for observation of the moving scintillation cells by a user.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.