Research/Patents/US 4773754
US 4773754

END-POINT OPTICAL TRACKER

Assignee

FORD AEROSPACE & COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, A CORP OF DE.

Filed

Nov 30, 1981

Granted

Sep 27, 1988

Location

WESTMINSTER CA US

Abstract

An optical tracker for automatically following a designated end-point of an elongated target, such as the nose of a missile, by orienting the received image to align with a predetermined reference and nutating the image over orthogonal detectors to detect an alignment error between the end-point of the target and the optical axis of the optical system. Orientation alignment errors are corrected by appropriately rotating an image rotating optical element about the optical axis, while the optical axis alignment errors are corrected by responsively redirecting the optical system until detected errors are minimal.

Source: Google Patents

35 USC §181 Secrecy Order

Imposed

Apr 28, 1982

Rescinded

Mar 24, 1988

Duration

5 years, 11 months

Inventor

  • 1ROBERT E. EISELE

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Back to patent indexSource: USPTO 35 USC §181 secrecy order records