Patent ID: 9354052
Filing Date: 2016-05-31
CPC Classification: F41G,G01B,G01C

Claim Text:
1. A shared-aperture electro-optic (EO) imaging and ranging sensor, comprising: a shared-aperture including an objective optical system that receives a wavefront of optical radiation emanating from one or more objects in a scene within a field of view (FOV) and converts the wavefront into a first optical image; an optical imaging channel comprising a first detector configured to convert the optical radiation of the first optical image into a first electrical signal; an optical ranging channel comprising an adaptive optical modulator configured to optically modulate the amplitude or phase of the wavefront with a spatial pattern and a second detector configured to convert the optical radiation of a second optical image of the modulated wavefront into a second electrical signal, wherein objects in the scene within a certain range window associated with that spatial pattern produce image components in the second optical image, said image components having a distinct spatial structure sensitive to the range to the one or more objects within the range window; an optical switch configured to alternately direct the optical radiation to the optical imaging channel and to the optical ranging channel to time multiplex the FOV in a sequence of frames; and one or more controllers configured to wherein said one or more controllers are configured to control the adaptive optical modulator to modulate the wavefront with at least two different spatial patterns associated with two different range windows during the remaining portion of a frame or in successive frames.