Patent ID: 8519882
Filing Date: 2013-08-27
Classification: G01S

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting ground obstacles from an airborne platform comprising: illuminating a whole field of view of interest with an electromagnetic wave in a range of 0.1 to 100 GHz using a transmit antenna; receiving data from echoes obtained from the whole field of view of interest using multiple antenna elements; transforming, using a detection system comprising a processor, the data from the echoes into a digital signal for each of the multiple antenna elements; combining, the detection system, the digital signals simultaneously in order to obtain simultaneously multiple beams covering the whole field of view of interest using spatial transformation processing; filtering, using the detection system, each beam in parallel utilizing a range and velocity filtering procedure over a long integration time so that a given ground obstacle is observed at different distances over the integration time; applying, using the detection system, on each filtered beam a detection process, wherein the detection process utilizes a threshold on amplitude to detect potential ground obstacles; and discriminating, using the detection system, the ground obstacles from the potential ground obstacles in a range velocity diagram based on a velocity of the airborne platform and a height or elevation of the ground obstacles, wherein the height or elevation of a ground obstacle constitutes a specific signature in terms of both a relative velocity and a relative distance, wherein the height or elevation of an obstacle at a given range corresponds to a specific relative velocity which is distinct from that of ground obstacles at a same range and having a lower height or elevation, and wherein the height or elevation of an obstacle at a given relative velocity corresponds to a specific range which is distinct from that of ground obstacles having a same relative velocity and a lower height or elevation.