Patent ID: 7684020

Claim:
A threat countermeasure system for detecting a rapidly moving object and automatically deploying a countermeasure to respond to incoming threats, the system comprising: a radar that warns of an incoming projectile; an array of light emitting diodes illuminating an array of optical sensors, said array of optical sensors detecting light emitted by said light emitting diode array that is affected by projectiles passing between said light emitting diode array and said optical sensor array, said array of optical sensors scanning for very rapid changes in luminosity; at least one processor coupled to said optical sensor array, said processor receiving signals from said optical sensor array and being responsive to said radar warning, said processor distinguishing rapidly moving projectiles from objects moving at lower velocities at least in part based on said luminosity detected by said optical sensor array and spatial correlation of said detected changes in luminosity across said array of optical sensors, to determine if a sensed pattern is compatible with a projectile threat; wherein said at least one processor can discriminate very rapidly moving projectiles from slower moving objects at least in part from signals generated by many optical sensors in said array and compares said signals to determine whether detected objects constitute an incoming threat, and computes position of incoming projectiles at least in part in response to said spatial correlation; and a countermeasure deployment arrangement coupled to said at least one processor that automatically responds to incoming projectiles by commanding deployment of a countermeasure in time to defeat the projectile.