Method and apparatus for passive mapping

Claim 2

A passive radiation mapping system comprising radiation sensing means adapted to be moved relative to an area to be mapped along a path and having a receiving beam pattern for providing a signal indicative of the intensity of the radiation received thereby in the direction of the beam, means for causing the beam of said sensing means to angularly scan the area to be mapped about said sensing means as said sensing means is moved relative to the area along said path, recording means responsive to the signal from said sensing means for providing intensity modulated indicia in the form of data lines on a record medium corresponding to the angular scans of said sensing means and having varying slopes corresponding to radiation sources at varying ranges, and processing means responsive to the recorded data lines on said record medium for integrating the recorded data along paths on the record medium corresponding to radiation sources at various ranges and along-track positions and deriving therefrom a radiometric map on a further record medium of the area scanned by said sensing means.

Claim 3

A passive radiation mapping system comprising radiation sensing means adapted to be moved relative to an area to be mapped along a path and having a receiving beam pattern for providing a signal indicative of the intensity of the radiation received thereby in the direction of the beam, means for causing the beam of said sensing means to angularly scan the area to be mapped about said sensing means as said sensing means is moved relative to the area along said path, recording means responsive to the signals from said sensing means for providing intensity modulated indicia in the form of data lines on a record medium corresponding to the angular scans of said sensing means and having varying slopes corresponding to radiation sources at varying ranges, and processing means responsive to the recorded data lines on said record medium for converting each data line to a point on a further record medium at the appropriate range and along-track position, thereby producing a radiometric map on the further record medium of the area scanned by said sensing means, said recording means comprising means for producing said data lines with a first component in one coordinate on said medium corresponding to the tangent of the scan angle of said sEnsing means beam pattern and a second component in another coordinate on said medium corresponding to the distance of said sensing means from a predetermined location along said path.

Claim 4

A passive radiation mapping system comprising radiation sensing means adapted to be moved relative to an area to be mapped along a path and having a receiving beam pattern for providing a signal indicative of the intensity of the radiation received thereby in the direction of the beam, means for causing the beam of said sensing means to angularly scan the area to be mapped about said sensing means as said sensing means is moved relative to the area along said path, recording means responsive to the signals from said sensing means for providing intensity modulated indicia in the form of data lines on a record medium corresponding to the angular scans of said sensing means and having varying slopes corresponding to radiation sources at varying ranges, and processing means responsive to the recorded data lines on said record medium for converting each data line to a point on a further record medium at the appropriate range and along-track position, thereby producing a radiometric map on the further record medium of the area scanned by said sensing means, said recording means comprising means for producing said data lines with a first component in one coordinate on said medium corresponding to the tangent of the scan angle of said sEnsing means beam pattern and a second component in another coordinate on said medium corresponding to the distance of said sensing means from a predetermined location along said path.

Claim 5

The system of claim 1 wherein said means comprises a square-law receiver responsive to the signals from said sensing means for providing an output signal linear in average power relative to its input and circuit means responsive to the output of said receiver for providing a bipolar signal corresponding to the receiver output signal less its average value component.

Claim 6

The system of claim 3 wherein said circuit means comprises a differentiator.

Claim 7

The system of claim 3 wherein said means further comprises means for combining a bias signal with said bipolar signal to provide a unipolar signal having an average value component substantially less than said first mentioned average value component.

Claim 8

The system of claim 5 comprising a beam producing means for providing an intensity modulated energy beam in response to said unipolar signal, and means for deflecting said beam along a given axis in synchronism with the angular scanning of the receiving beam pattern.

Claim 9

The system of claim 6 comprising means for moving said record medium across the deflection axis of said beam at a speed corresponding to the velocity of said sensing means along said path relative to said area to be mapped.

Claim 10

The system of claim 6 wherein said beam producing means comprises a cathode-ray tube.

Claim 11

A passive radiation mapping system comprising radiation sensing means adapted to be moved relative to an area to be mapped along a path and having a receiving beam pattern for providing a signal indicative of the intensity of the radiation received thereby in the direction of the beam, means for causing the beam of said sensing means to angularly scan the area to be mapped about said sensing means as said sensing means is moved relative to the area along said path, recording means responsive to the signals from said sensing means for providing intensity modulated indicia in the form of data lines on a record medium corresponding to the angular scans of said sensing means, and processing means responsive to the recorded data lines on said record medium for deriving therefrom a radiometric map on a further record medium of the area scanned by said sensing means, said processing means comprising means for selecting only certain data lines on said record medium corresponding to a given range, and means for converting said data lines to data points corresponding resepectively to emitting points of the area to be mapped and being spaced apart respective distances corresponding to the distances along said path.

Claim 12

A passive radiation mapping system comprising radiation sensing means adapted to be moved relative to an area to be mapped along a path and having a receiving beam pattern for providing a signal indicative of the intensity of the radiation received thereby in the direction of the beam, means for causing the beam of said sensing means to angularly scan the area to be mapped about said sensing means as said sensing means is moved relative to the area along said path, recording means responsive to the signals from said sensing means for providing intensity modulated indicia in the form of data lines on a record medium corresponding to the angular scans of said sensing means, and processing means responsive to the recorded data lines on said record medium for deriving therefrom a radiometric map on a further record medium of the area scanned by said sensing means, said processing means comprising means for selecting only certain data lines on said record medium corresponding to a given range, and means for converting said data lines to data points corresponding resepectively to emitting points of the area to be mapped and being spaced apart respective distances corresponding to the distances along said path.

Claim 13

The system of claim 9 wherein said processing means comprises means for moving said record mediums in synchronism to plot said data points from each of the data lines corresponding to the desired ranges in succession to form said output map.

Claim 14

The system of claim 1 wherein said processing means comprises means for deriving from said data lines the range and location of each emitting point of said area.

Claim 15

The system of claim 11 wherein said record medium is an optical film and said processing means comprises means for producing a collimated beam of coherent light, means for passing said light through said record film along an optical axis, a cylindrical lens system having a preferred axis-selecting characteristic located along said optical axis, and means for causing relative rotation between the data lines on said film and said cylindrical lens system so that the signal lines of different slopes, corresponding to radiation sources at different ranges, are successively collapsed as points on said further record medium.

Claim 16

The system of claim 12 wherein said further record medium is an optical film and said system comprises means for moving said further film in a direction parallel to the axis-selecting characteristic of said cylindrical lens system.

Claim 19

The method of claim 14 wherein the step of recording the signals from said sensing means includes producing said data lines with a first component in one coordinate on said medium corresponding to the tangent of the scan angle of said sensing means beam pattern and a second component in another coordinate on said medium corresponding to the distance of said sensing means from a predetermined location along said path.

Claim 20

The method of claim 15 wherein said record medium is an optical film, said method comprising passing a collimated beam of coherent light through said record film along an optical axis and collapsing lines of a given slope into sharp points on an image plane.

Claim 21

The method of claim 16 wherein the data signal lines on the film are rotated to successively collapse the lines having slopes within a given range.

Claim 22

The method of claim 17 comprising moving said further record medium across said optical axis in synchronism with the rotation of said film to successively plot the radiating points at each range.