Chirp pulse echo ranging apparatus

Claim 2

A chirp pulse echo ranging apparatus comprising transmitting means for emitting pulses of wave energy, each having a frequency which varied linearly during the pulse duration, receiving means for receiving echo signals resulting from reflection of the emitted wave energy from an object, frequency compression means coupled to the receiving means and having a frequency dispersion characteristic for effecting substantially simultaneous production of components of the received echo signals associated with different predetermined frequencies, thereby forming compressed echo pulses, and timing means for determining a time delay between the occurrence of each compressed echo pulse and a timing reference pulse having a predetermined relationship to a time at which a respective pulse of wave energy was transmitted, characterized in that: a. the frequency compression means includes a plurality of outputs at which ones of said components in different frequency bands are produced; and b. the apparatus includes processing means coupled to said outputs for determining from relative magnitudes of said components a line of sight velocity of the object relative to the apparatus.

Claim 3

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the different frequency bands are contiguous.

Claim 4

An apparatus as in claim 1 where each of said frequency bands has a bandwidth which does not exceed the difference between and initial frequency and a final frequency of each emitted pulse.

Claim 5

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the frequency compression means comprises a surface acoustic wave frequency compression filter including a piezoelectric substrate supporting: a. a first arrangement of electrode strips forming an input interdigital electrode array coupled to the receiving means for launching surface acoustic waves representative of the echo signal along a predetermined propagation direction; and b. a second arrangement of electrode strips forming an output interdigital electrode array for receiving said surface acoustic waves; the arrays being inclined to the propagation direction and to one another and the electrode strips being disposed at right angles to said propagation direction and correspondingly spaced from one another along each array such that the surface acoustic wave delay varies linearly and monotonically with frequency from one end of the array to another to effect decoding of a received chirp echo signal; said second arrangement comprising a plurality of electrically independent groups of signal electrodes respectively connected to corresponding independent output connections at which the components in different frequency bands are produced.

Claim 6

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the processing means includes data processing means for calculating a correction factor from the determined line of sight velocity and for applying said correction factor to an object range represented by the timing delay determined by the timing means to correct for a doppler shift dependent change in said delay associated with the frequency compression means.

Claim 7

An apparatus as in claim 1 including: a. summation means coupled to the outputs for producing a sum signal representative of the instantaneous sum of the magnitude of signals produced at said outputs; b. signal peak detection means coupled to the summation means for producing a timing signal when the sum signal exceeds a predetermined threshold changes from a magnitude which is increasing with time to a magnitude which is decreasing with time; and c. measurement means coupled to the outputs of the frequency compression means for sampling and measuring signals produced at said outputs in response to the timing signal.

Claim 8

An apparatus as in claim 6 where the measurement means comprises a plurality of analog to digital converters electrically connected to respective ones of the outputs of the frequency compression means.

Claim 9

An apparatus as in claim 6, including: a. a plurality of logarithmic amplifiers coupled to respective ones of the outputs of the frequency compression means; and b. a plurality of analog subtraction devices each having a pair of inputs coupled to respective outputs of two of said logarithmic amplifiers which receive echo signal components in adjacent frequency bands and having an output coupled to respective inputs of the measurement means.

Claim 10

An apparatus as in claim 8 where the measurement means comprises antilog circuit means for producing analog signals and analog to digital conversion means for converting said analog signals to digital signals.

Claim 11

An apparatus as in claim 8 where the measurement means comprises antilog analog to digital conversion means.

Claim 12

An apparatus as in claim 9 where the analog to digital conversion means comprises a flash analog to digital converter.

Claim 13

An apparatus as in claim 11 where the processing means comprises: a. a plurality of peak signal detectors each having an input coupled to a respective output of the frequency compression means; b. a plurality of sample and hold circuits each having an input coupled to an output of a respective one of the peak signal detectors; and c. a combining means having a plurality of inputs coupled to the outputs of respective ones of the peak signal detectors and having an output coupled to hold inputs of the sample and hold circuits, said combining means producing a timing signal at said output upon the occurrence of an output signal from at least one of the peak signal detectors.

Claim 14

An apparatus as in claim 12 where each sample and hold circuit includes a digital to analog converter.

Claim 15

An apparatus as in claim 13 where the digital to analog converter comprises a flash digital to analog converter.

Claim 16

An apparatus as in claim 12 where each sample and hold circuit includes a peristaltic charge coupled device.

Claim 17

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the frequency compression means includes more than two of said outputs at which components in different frequency bands are produced and where the processing means includes an arrangement of comparators and logic circuits forming a signal amplitude analyzing arrangement for sensing the relative amplitudes of said components and for producing a signal indicating a pair of said outputs at which overlapping ones of said frequency bands occur.

Claim 18

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the wave energy comprises electromagnetic wave energy.

Claim 19

An apparatus as in claim 17 where the electromagnetic wave energy is in the infrared frequency band.

Claim 20

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the wave energy comprises ultrasound wave energy.

Claim 21

An apparatus as in claim 1 where the frequency compression means comprises a surface acoustic wave frequency compression filter including a piezoelectric substrate supporting: a. a first arrangement of electrode strips forming an input interdigital electrode array coupled to the receiving means for launching surface acoustic waves representative of the echo signals along a predetermined propagation direction; and b. a second arrangement of electrode strips forming an output interdigital electrode array for receiving said surface acoustic waves; the arrays being inclined to the propagation direction and to one another and the electrode strips being disposed at right angles to said propagation direction and correspondingly spaced from one another along each array such that the surface acoustic wave delay varies linearly and monotonically with frequency from one end of the array to another to effect decoding of a received chirp echo signal; said second arrangement comprising a plurality of electrically independent groups of signal electrodes respectively connected to corresponding independent output connections at which the components in different frequency bands are produced, said frequency bands being contiguous.

Claim 22

An apparatus as in claim 20 where the electrically independent groups of signal electrodes are electrically connected to a common bus bar.

Claim 25

A method as in claim 22 where the frequency bands are contiguous.

Claim 26

A method as in claim 22 where the frequency compression effects the production of more than two of the components such that adjacent pairs of the frequency bands represent respective ranges of line of sight velocities of the object, and where the amplitude of said components are sensed to detect and identify a pair of adjacent frequency bands for which said components have at least a predetermined amplitude.

Claim 27

A method as in claim 22 where the width of the frequency bands is no larger than the magnitude of the frequency variation of the emitted pulses.

Claim 28

A method as in claim 22 where the wave energy comprises electromagnetic wave energy.

Claim 29

A method as in claim 26 where the electromagnetic wave energy is in the infrared frequency band.

Claim 30

A method as in claim 22 where the wave energy comprises ultrasound wave energy.