Wire obstacle warning system

Claim 1

A detection, location and recognition system for wire type obstacles, comprising in combination: a pulsed source of electromagnetic energy of a frequency/wavelength capable of being transmitted to and reflected from a wire type obstacle; means coupled to said pulsed source and providing a scanned beam of pulsed electromagnetic energy from said source to said obstacle and receiving reflected energy therefrom; image forming means including output means coupled to said reflected energy for generating an image of the returned energy of each beam of pulse energy on said photo output means; a detector comprised of a linear charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor having N photosites which are adapted to be responsive to photo energy and being adapted to be serially read out to logic signal processor means; scanning means located between said image forming means and said detector and being adapted to provide M sequential scans of said image on said photo output means to couple photo energy thereat to said linear CCD image sensor; logic signal processor means coupled to said detector and being responsive to each sequential serial output from said linear CCD sensor to determine the presence of a charge signal at least one photosite with an absence of charge signals at photosites on either side of said at least one photosite and providing a digital output signal indicative of said charge signal; a digital memory coupled to and synchronously operated with said processor means and being operable to store said digital output signal and the location thereof relative to said N photosites for said linear CCD sensor; and means coupled to said memory for providing a composite output of said digital signals in said memory to provide an indication of a substantial linear arrangement of said digital signals to indicate the presence of a wire type object.