Photo radar ground contour mapping system

Claim 1

AN INTEGRATED PHOTO-RADAR GROUND CONTOUR MAPPING SYSTEM ADAPTED TO BE OPERATED WHILE AIRBORNE TO PRODUCE SIMULTANEOUSLY A PLURALITY OF RECORDED CORRELATED SIGNALS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES FOR ULTIMATE DISPLAY AND UTILIZATION, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING AN ACTIVE SIDE-LOOKING RADAR SYSTEM ADAPTED TO RADIATE A NARROW HORIZONTAL BEAM OF PULSED ENERGY FROM THE AIRCRAFT TOWARDS THE EARTH''S SURFACE IN A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL PLANE TRANSVERSE THE GROUND TRACK OF SAID AIRCRAFT AND ADAPTED TO PROVIDE SIGNALS CONTAINING TERRAIN SLANT-RANGE INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO SAID AIRCRAFT, AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL TRANSDUCER FOR DISPLAYING SAID SIGNALS, A CAMERA ADAPTED TO PHOTOGRAPHICALLY RECORD SAID DISPLAYED SIGNALS, A SIDE-LOOKING CAMERA ADAPTED TO PHOTOGRAPH AT A PREDETERMINED ANGLE VIEWS OF SAID TERRAIN AND TO PROVIDE TERRAIN DEPRESSION-ANGLE INFORMATION AND RELATIVE AZIMUTH INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO SAID AIRCRAFT, MEANS FOR PRODUCING A SIGNAL CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE ABSOLUTE ALTITUDE OF SAID AIRCRAFT WITH RESPECT TO A PREDETERMINED REFERENCE PLANE, INTERVALOMETER MEANS TO SYNCHRONOUSLY CONTROL THE RESPECTIVE DRIVES FOR SAID SIDELOOKING CAMERA AND SAID CAMERA FOR RECORDING THE DISPLAYED SIDE-LOOKING RADAR SIGNALS, AND MEANS FOR RECORDING SAID ALTITUDE SIGNAL CONCOMITANTLY WITH EACH FILM FRAME EXPOSURE ON SAID SIDE-LOOKING CAMERA, WHEREBY GROUND ELEVATION AND RANGE INFORMATION AS WELL AS PLANIMETRIC MAPPING INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR A WIDE STRIP OF TERRAIN PASSED OVER BY THE MAPPING AIRCRAFT.