Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
177 words
A guidance system for an airborne vehicle including: passive radiation emissive means placed in a particular ground location, said passive radiation emissive means including a multiplicity of separate metallic objects placed in a predetermined pattern on a particular ground location each having a generally horizontal and generally flat radiation face positioned to assume an apparent temperature (T) in accordance with the equation T Epsilon Ta + Rho Ts + Tau Tfb, where Epsilon , Rho and Tau are the emissivity, reflection and transmissivity coefficients respectively, and Ta, Ts and Tb are respectively the ambient temperature of the material, the reflected sky temperature and the background temperature; radiometric microwave receiving means mounted in said vehicle for detecting radiations over an area including the generally horizontal faces of said metallic objects forming said passive radiation emissive means, said radiations being directly proportional to the aforesaid apparent temperature (T) of the radiation emissive means; and display means coupled to said microwave radiometric receiving means for providing a display of said passive radiation emissive means to the pilot of the vehicle.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
177 words
A guidance system for an airborne vehicle including: passive radiation emissive means placed in a particular ground location, said passive radiation emissive means including a multiplicity of separate metallic objects placed in a predetermined pattern on a particular ground location each having a generally horizontal and generally flat radiation face positioned to assume an apparent temperature (T) in accordance with the equation T Epsilon Ta + Rho Ts + Tau Tfb, where Epsilon , Rho and Tau are the emissivity, reflection and transmissivity coefficients respectively, and Ta, Ts and Tb are respectively the ambient temperature of the material, the reflected sky temperature and the background temperature; radiometric microwave receiving means mounted in said vehicle for detecting radiations over an area including the generally horizontal faces of said metallic objects forming said passive radiation emissive means, said radiations being directly proportional to the aforesaid apparent temperature (T) of the radiation emissive means; and display means coupled to said microwave radiometric receiving means for providing a display of said passive radiation emissive means to the pilot of the vehicle.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system defined in claim 1 in which said particular ground location constitutes a runway extension for landing the airborne vehicle, and in which said metallic objects are placed in adjacent rows.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
33 words
The guidance system defined in claim 1 in which said radiometric receiving means includes a lens type antenna, and at least one radiometric receiver positioned at the focal point of said lens antenna.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
The guidance system defined in claim 3 and which includes drive means mechanically coupled to said receiver for reciprocally moving said receiver angularly through a predetermined range effectively scanning said receiver over an area and through a predetermined antenna pattern.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
The guidance system defined in claim 3 and which includes a plurality of radiometric microwave receivers mounted at the focal point of said lens antenna.