GUIDANCE APPARATUS WITH DUAL MODE SENSOR

Assignee

Boeing

Filed as: BOEING COMPANY, THE, A CORP OF DE

Filed

Jul 26, 1984

Granted

Jan 26, 1993

Location

SEATTLE WA US

Abstract

Guidance apparatus for a tactical guided missile uses a dual-mode sensor having both active millimeter wavelength RF sensing capability and passive infrared sensing capability within a single aperture. A dual reflector-antenna assembly is formed by chemical vapor deposition of dielectric material transparent to infrared and RF radiation. Embedded within the reflector assembly is an RF microstrip antenna array, formed by thin-film metalization techniques, which defines an antenna beam axis. A surface of the reflector assembly is ground, optically polished, and coated with infrared reflective material to form a primary reflecting surface of a Cassegrainian optical system, which also includes a secondary mirror, for defining an infrared detection beam axis coincident with the antenna beam axis. Infrared radiation from a target is concentrated by the Cassegrainian optical system onto an infrared detector to produce a first guidance signal. RF energy is supplied to the antenna array to be transmitted to and reflected from a target. Reflected RF radiation from the target is received by the antenna array to produce a second guidance signal.

Source: Google Patents