BACKGROUND

A laser detection and ranging (LADAR) sensor, sometimes referred to as a ladar, uses laser beams to measure distances (or ranges) and instantaneous velocities. A ladar can be used to form images of scenes with a high degree of definition (e.g., 15 cm or better resolution at ranges greater than 1 ,00G meters). A ladar may be mounted on stationary objects and on vehicles such as airplanes, for example.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, ladar system includes a ladar transmitter system and a ladar receiver system configured to receive data from the transmitter. The ladar transmitter system and the ladar receiver system are disposed in a configuration forming a bistatic synthetic aperture ladar system.

In another aspect, a ladar transmitter system includes a telescope, a laser and a communications module configured to communicate with a ladar receiver system to provide a frequency of the laser. The ladar transmitter system and the ladar receiver system are configured to be disposed in a configuration forming a bistatic synthetic aperture ladar system.

In a further aspect, a ladar receiver system includes a telescope, a local oscillator (LO) laser, a heterodyne detector configured to receive signals from the telescope and the LO laser, electronics configured to process a signal from the heterodyne detector to image a target and a commimi cations module configured to communicate with a ladar transmitter system to synchronize the LO laser with a laser of the ladar transmitter system. The ladar transmitter system and the ladar receiver system are configured to be disposed in a configuration forming a bistatic synthetic aperture ladar system. One or more of the aspects above may include one or more of the following features. The !adar transmitter system is configured to be disposed in a vehicle. The vehicle is one of a naval vessel, an air vehicle, satellite or a ground vehicle. The ladar transmitter system is configured to be disposed in a vehicle and the ladar receiver system is configured to he stationary. The ladar receiver system is configured to be stationary. The ladar receiver system comprises a ground-based telescope. The diameter of the ground-based telescope is greater than a meter. The ladar transmitter system arid the ladar receiver system are separated by 100 kilometers. The ladar transmitter system includes a telescope, a laser and a communications module configured to communicate a frequency of the laser to the ladar receiver system. The diameter of the telescope is about 20 inches. The laser is a Pound-Drever-Hali (PDH) stabilized laser in a master oscillator power laser amplifier (MOP A) configuration. The laser transmitter further comprises a context sensor inf ared receiver. The ladar receiver includes a telescope, a local oscillator (LO) laser, a heterodyne detector configured to receive signals from the telescope and the LO laser, electronics configured to process a signal from the heterodyne detector to image a target; and a communications module configured to communicate with the ladar transmitter system to synchronize the LO laser with a laser of the ladar transmitter system. The telescope is a telescope that has a diameter greater than a meter.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a hi static ladar system with respect to a target.

FIG. 2 A is a functional block diagram of an example of a ladar transmitter sysls of the bi static, ladar system of FIG. 1. FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram of an example of a ladar receiver system of the bistatic ladar system of FIG. 1 ,

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of a process to image the target using the bistatic ladar system of FIG-. L

FIG. 4 is a computer on which fee process of FIG, 3 may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein is a ladar that includes a ladar transmitter system (e.g., a ladar transmitter system IB (FIG. 1 )) and a ladar receiver system (a ladar receiver system 22 (FIG. 1)) that are separated from eaeli other to form, a bistatic ladar. When imaging a distant object, a large aperture receiver is required to collect enough signal to image the object ft is very difficult to fly and point a large aperture. As described herein, the large aperture receiver may be stationary Instead, such as in a ground-based, telescope, for example, and a laser transmitter can then be disposed on a moving platform such as a. high-altitude aircraft or satellite, avoiding some of the turbulence from the atmosphere, and possibly reducing the power required by being closer to a target. The distance that me moving platform covers, represents a synthetic aperture formed to generate a high resolution image. For example, when imaging objects such as satellites in geo-orhit, a synthetic aperture of a few hundred meters would be required, but. could be foroied instead in a fraction of a second by a satellite or in one to two seconds by a fast moving airplane.

Even though there are bistatic radars, a radar system, is vastly different from a bistatic ladar. For example, a bistatic ladar must overcome impediments that are not present in bistatic radar. n particular, for synthetic aperture imaging, the relative position of the ladar to the target must be known to a fraction of the operating wavelength, which is in microns rather than, in tens of centimeters as is the case with radar. Also, the amount of frequency Dopp!er shift that needs to be handled with ladar is also orders of magnitude larger th n with radar. In addition, radar is practically insensitive to atmospheric turbulence, where ladar is almost always impacted by it causing most designs to work around that impediment

Referring to F G. 1 , a bistatie synthetic aperture ladar system. 10 includes a ladar transmitter system 18 and a ladar receiver system 22. The ladar transmitter system 18 illuminates a target 12 with a laser beam 24 and a laser beam 28 reflected from the target 12 is received by the ladar receiver system 22 which images the target.

The bistatie synthetic aperture ladar system 10 is a coherent ladar. For example, the ladar transmitter system 18 and the ladar receiver system 22 are in communications with, each other through a communications link 32 in order to provide coherency between a frequency of a laser (e.g., a laser 202 (FIG, 2A)) at the ladar transmitter system 18 with a frequency of a local oscillator (LO) laser (e.g., a LO laser 248 (FIG. 2B)) at the ladar receiver system 22,

The bistatie synthetic aperture ladar system 10 is bistatie, for example, because the ladar transmitter system 18 and the ladar receiver system 22 are not disposed together. For example, the ladar transmitter system 18 may be disposed on a moving platform s¾ch as an aircraft, a satellite, a train, or a naval vessel while the ladar receiver system may disposed in a stationary structure such as a ground station up to a hundred kilometers away from the ladar transmitter system 18.

The bistatie synthetic aperture ladar system 10 is capable of forming a synthetic aperture when the laser transmitter system is disposed on a moving platform. A synthetic aperture is formed of a size equal to the distance the moving platform moves between two points in a time and is sometimes referred to as the synthetic aperture time. Referring to FIG, 2A, an example of the iadar transmitter system 1 § is a ladar trmsmitter system 18'. The ladar transmitter system 18' includes a laser transmitter 202, a phase modulator 208, a polarization beam splitter 210, a telescope 212, a dichroic beam splitter 218, a context sensor infrared (IR) receiver 222, a laser target sensor 224, line of site (LOS) control computers 226, laser synchronization electronics 228 and a

communications module 230.

In operation, the laser transmitter 202 provides a laser beam to the phase modulator 208 which provides a high range resolution high coherence waveform, such as a Liner FM chirp waveform that is used for fee synthetic aperture processing and image formation algorithms. The laser beam is reflected by a polarization beam splitter 210 to the telescope 212 to illuminate a remote target 12. The telescope 212 is also used to receive back possible target returns from solar illumination to help point the telescope 212 as well as laser returns to ensure that the laser beam is actually illuminating the target 12,

On the receiver path, of the ladar transmitter system 18', 50% of the solar return is transmitted, through polarizing beam splitter 210 and the laser return that Is depolarized by the target 12 is also transmitted through beam, splitter 210. Then the laser return and the solar return are separated by the dichroic beam splitter 218, where the solas- return is directed to the context sensor IR. receiver 222, and the laser return to the laser target sensor 224.

The context sensor Ϊ receiver 222 and the laser target sensor 224 are coupled to the LOS control processor 226 to control the Line of Sight (LOS) of the iadar transmitter 18% Typically, the field of illumination (FOI), of the laser transmitter 202 and the field of view (FOY) of the laser target sensor 224 are so narrow, that it would be hard to know if either is pointing in the right direction. The context IR Receiver 222 generally includes a larger FOV, ensuring that the target, will fall within its FOV, One can pre-align the laser transmitter 202 to the center of the FOV of the context IR. receiver 222, such that when the target is detected using the solar illumination, it. can be brougiit to the center of the FOV of the laser tiansinitter 202, ensuring that it will hit the target

In order for the bistatie scheme to work correctly, the laser transmitter 202 and file receiver reference LO (Local Oscillator) laser (e,g, _» a local oscillator laser 248 (FIG. 2A)} must be ultra-stable and synchronized to each other. Parameters of the laser transmitter laser 202 are extracted or provided to the laser synchronization electronics 228 and provided to the ladar receiver system 22' using the communications module 230.

1 ^' n one example, the laser transmitter 202 is a Poxaid-Drever-Hall (PDH) ultra- stabilized laser in a master oscillator power laser amplifier (MOP A) configuration, hi one example, the telescope 212 is a 20-inch diameter telescope. The absolute frequency difference between the laser transmitter 202 and LO lasers is not very important in this ease, but an atomic clock or other calibrated reference may be used to determine the lasers' absolute frequency. The relative phase history, modulation timing, approximate center frequency of the laser transmitter 202, and all motion data are transmitted from the ladar transmitter system 18' to the ladar receiver system 22' to set the receiver parameters to allow image reconstruction.

Referring to FIG. 2B, an example of the ladar receiver system 22' is a ladar receiver system 22 ^s . The ladar receiver system. 22' includes a large telescope 232, which may include a laser guide star, for example, to correct tor turbulence effects, In one example, the telescope 232 includes an "Artificial Guide Star" correction system that includes a. de&rroable mirror.

The ladar receiver system 22' also includes a dlehroie beam splitter 234, a passive sensor 236, a. beam splitter 238 (e.g., a 95-5% beam, splitter), a communications module 242, an LOS control processor 244, a synchronization module 246, a local oscillator (LO) laser 248, a heterodyne detector 252, detector electronics 256, an image processor 258 arsd a recorder 260.

In operation, the reflected laser beam 28 arid any solar illumination off the target 12 is received by the telescope 232 (e.g., a telescope with a diameter greater than a meter) and is provided to the beam splitter 234. The solar signal provided to the beam splitter 234 is provided to the passive sensor 236 conf gured to provide context and line-oi-site control The other pari of the signal, the laser beam, is reflected by the dichroic beam splitter 234 and is provided to the beam splitter 238,

in one example, the passive sensor 236 is the same as the context sensor I 222. The passive sensor 236 ensures that the heterodyne detector 252 is pointing at the target 12. The passive sensor 236 pr vides sensor data to the LOS control processor 244 to control the LOS,

The data received from t!ie ladar transmitter system 18' through the

communications link 32 is provided to the synchronization module 246 which is configured to synchronize the local oscillator laser 248 with the laser 202 (FIG. 2A). The LO laser 248 is also an ultra-stable laser using, for example, the Pound-Trever-Hall technique to reduce the frequency jitter combined with a calibrated reference to know the absolute frequency. The output beam of the LO laser 248 is directed to the beam splitter 238 to mix with the laser return signal and both are provided to the heterodyne detector 252. The detector electronics 256 receives a resultant signal from the heterodyne detector 252 and detects the transmitter waveform.. From the transmitter waveform and the information received by the ladar transmitter system 18', the image processor 258 determines an image of the target 1.2. All the raw and processed data will usually be recorded by the data recorder 258. Referring to FIG. 3, an example of a process to image a target using the bistatic ladar system 10 is a process 300. Process 300 illuminates the target (302), For example, the ladar transmitter system 18 iUumiriates the target.

Process 300 synchronizes the ladar receiver system 22' with the ladar transmitter system 18' (306). For example, the frequency and phase history of the laser transmitter 202 waveform, as well as the motion data for compensation is sent from the

communications module 230 of the ladar transmitter system 18 ⁵ through the wireless communications link 32 to the communications module 242 of the ladar receiver 22' where it is provided to the synchronization module 246 to synchronize the LO laser 248. The LO laser 248 and the laser transmitter 202 may be synchronized to within 10 Hz even when the laser transmitter system 18' and the laser receiver system 22" are separated by a 100 km. elativistic effects may be required to be taken, into account in the

synchronization procedure.

Process 300 receives a refrection from the target 12 (312) and images the target (320). For example, the detector electronics 256 process the signal from the heterodyne detector 252 based on the LO laser 248 mixed with the laser target return signal, and combined with the received ladar transmitter synchronization data to create a synthetic aperture image of the target 12.

Referring to FIG. 4, in one example, a computer 400 includes a processor 402, a volatile memory 404, a non-volatile memory 406 (e.g., hard disk) and the user interface (UI) 408 (e.g., a graphical user interface, a mouse, a keyboard, a display, touch screen and so forth). The non- olatile memory 406 stores computer instructions 412, an operating system 416 and data 41.8, In one example, the computer instructions 412 are executed by the processor 402 out of volatile mem ory 404 to perform all or part, of the processes described herein (e.g., process 300). In one example, the ladar transmitter 1 S and the ladar receiver 22 each incl des a computer 400 to perform all or pari of the process 300,

The processes described herein (e.g., process 300) are not limited to use with the hardware nd software of FK3. 4; they may find applicability in any computing or processing environment and with any type of machine or set of machines that is capable of running a. computer program. The processes described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of the two. The processes described herein may be implemented In computer programs executed on programmable computers/maeMnes that, each includes a processor, a non-transitory machine-readable medium or other article of manufacture that is readable by the processor (including volatile and non- volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and one or more output, devices.

Program code may he applied to data entered using an input devi ce to perform any of the processes described herein and to generate output information.

The system, may be implemented, at least in part, via a computer program product, (e.g., in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium), for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus (e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers)). Each such program may he implemented in a high level procedural or object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the programs may he implemented in assembly or machine language. The language ma he a compiled or an interpreted language and it may be deployed in an form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program may be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. A computer program may be stored on a non-transitory machine-readable medium that is readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer for configuring and operating the computes" when the non-transitory machine-readable medium is read by the computer to perform the processes described herein. For example, the processes described herein may also be implemented as a non-transitory machine- readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where -upon execution, instructions in the computer program, cause the computer to operate in accordance with the processes. A non-transitory machine-readable medium may include but is not limited to a hard drive, compact disc, flash memory, non-volatile memory, volatile memory, magnetic diskette and so forth bat does not include a transitory signal per se.

The processes described herein are not limited to the specific examples described. For example, the process 300 is not limited to the specific processing order of FIG. 3, respectively. Rather, any of the processing blocks of FIG. 3 may be re-ordered, combined or removed, performed in parallel or in serial, as necessary, to achieve the results set forth above.

The processing blocks (for example, in the process 300) associated with

implementing the system may be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform the Junctions of the system. All or par of the system may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry (e.g., an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) and/or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)). All or part of the system may be implemented using electronic hardware circuitry that include electronic devices such as, for example, at least one of a processor, a memory, programmable logic devices or logic gates.

Elements of different embodiments described herein may be combined to form other embodiments not specifically set forth above. Other embodiments not specifically described herein are also within the scope of the following claims.