Patent ID: 7145455

Claim:
A space safety apparatus monitoring a volume of space encompassing a field of view (FOV), said space safety apparatus comprising: a focusing element for focusing an infra-red (IR) energy beam collected from within the volume of space; a filter element for filtering the infra-red (IR) energy collected from within the volume of space; a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) having mirror elements in a mirror array for reflecting the IR energy beam; an IR energy detector for detecting the IR energy reflected by said MEMS array and converting the IR energy to an output signal; an amplifier for amplifying the output signal; an analog to digital converter for converting the output signal from analog to digital; a processor for processing the output signal; a memory storage for storing the output signal; a controller for adjusting an angle of at least one mirror element of said MEMS mirror array; and an alarm for annunciating detection of an intrusion resulting from a change in amplitude of the output signal corresponding to a change in amplitude of the IR energy beam.