Solid state display of range and azimuth information

Claim 2

Radar apparatus comprising a memory matrix, means to insert into said memory matrix information as to the angular direction and range to a target at predetermined rates, means to read out of said memory matrix the information at a higher rate, said readout being destructive of the information stored in said memory matrix, means for feeding back information from said readout means to said memory matrix to restore said information in said memory matrix, a solid state display device, and means to apply the information read out of said matrix to said solid state display to display therein the angular and range position of said target continuously and without flicker.

Claim 3

The invention of claim 1 in which a condition sensor is provided and in which means are provided to modify said information read out of said readout means in accordance with the conditions sensed by said condition sensor.

Claim 4

The invention of claim 2 in which said radar apparatus is mounted for orientation and in which said condition sensor senses changes in orientation of said radar apparatus and changes the information in said readout means in accordance with the change of orientation sensed by said change in orientation sensor.

Claim 5

Radar apparatus comprising means to provide information as to the range of targets in a field to be scanned, means to provide information as to the angle of direction to the targets in said field, a memory matrix having rows and columns of memory elements, means to store said range information in rows of said memory matrix, means to store said directional information in columns of said memory matrix, whereby each memory element has information stored therein as to whether a target appears at a respective direction and range from said radar apparatus, a buffer memory, means to shift the information in a row of said memory matrix to said buffer memory and to erase the information in said row of said memory matrix, a display device having rows and columns of indicators, means to apply information stored in said buffer memory to corresponding columns of indicators of said display device, means to apply the information stored in said buffer memory to said row from which the information has been erased to restore said information to said row of said memory matrix, and said information as to direction being stored in said matrix at a low rate of speed and said information being shifted to said buffer memory at a much higher rate of speed.

Claim 6

Radar apparatus comprising means to provide information as to the range of targets in a field to be scanned, means to provide information as to the angle of direction to the targets in said field, a memory matrix having rows and columns of memory elements, means to store said range information in rows of said memory matrix, means to store said directional information in columns of said memory matrix, whereby each memory element has information stored therein as to whether a target appears at a respective direction and range from said radar apparatus, a buffer memory, means to shift the information in a row of said memory matrix to said buffer memory and to erase the information in said row of said memory matrix, a display device having rows and columns of indicators, means to apply information stored in said buffer memory to corresponding columns of indicators of said display device, means to apply the information stored in said buffer memory to said row from which the information has been erased to restore said information to said row of said memory matrix, and said information as to direction being stored in said matrix at a low rate of speed and said information being shifted to said buffer memory at a much higher rate of speed.

Claim 7

The invention of claim 4 in which said radar apparatus is mouNted for change in direction with respect to said target, means are provided to sense changing direction of said apparatus with respect to a reference direction, and means are provided which are responsive to said direction change sensor for shifting the information in said buffer memory in one direction or in the opposite direction responsive to the change in direction of said radar apparatus.

Claim 8

The invention of claim 5 in which said change in direction sensor includes a rate of direction change gyro, an integrator coupled to said rate of change gyro, and a threshold device coupled to said integrator, the output of said threshold device being connected to shift the information in said buffer memory.

Claim 9

The invention of claim 6 in which the threshold device provides an output when the direction of said radar has been changed to an angle equal to the difference in angle indicated by adjacent columns of said memory matrix.

Claim 10

The invention of claim 4 in which means are provided to sense the presence of a target for all orientations and for a predetermined range from said radar apparatus, and in which means are provided to shift said directional information to said buffer memory at a higher rate when no target is sensed than when a target is sensed.

Claim 11

The invention of claim 8 in which a clock pulser is provided producing pulses at a predetermined high rate, means are provided to produce pulses at a lower rate, and means are provided to shift information from said memory matrix to said buffer memory at a rate of said clock pulser when no target is sensed by said target sensor and to shift information from said memory matrix to said buffer memory at the rate of said means to produce pulses when a target is sensed by said target sensor.

Claim 12

The invention of claim 9 in which said means to provide pulses is a frequency divider fed by said clock pulser.

Claim 13

The invention of claim 10 in which the output of said clock pulser and of said frequency divider are fed to respective AND circuits and the output of the sensor is fed directly to one AND circuit and through an inverter to said other AND circuit, the output of both of said AND circuits being applied to cause feeding of information from said memory matrix to said buffer memory.