OBJECT DETECTION AND LOCATION SYSTEM

Assignee

MILLITECH CORPORATION, A CORP. OF MA

Filed

Apr 19, 1988

Granted

Feb 13, 1990

Location

SOUTH DEERFIELD MA US

Abstract

A millimeter wave object detection and location system is disclosed comprising a source generating a millimeter wave signal which is divided into an illumination beam, directed onto a field of view, and a local oscillator portion, mixed with radiation reflected from objects in the field of view. The mixing is performed in a staring array of mixer/detector elements which need not be mechanically or electronically scanned to generate signals responsive to the entire field of view. The detected signal from each element is directly responsive to a portion of the field of view. The oscillator signal is preferably linearly polarized, and a polarizing grid is used to separate the local oscillator signal and illumination beam and direct them in a simple and efficient manner. A twist reflector may also be used to rotate the polarization of a portion of the beam to direct it onto the mixer/detector array for mixing with the received signal from the field of view. Improved constructions of millimeter wave source and mixer/detector elements are also disclosed, which greatly simplify construction of the device.

Source: Google Patents