Patent ID: 7095488

Claim:
A laser-based system disposed on-board an aircraft for profiling objects on the terrain forward of the aircraft during flight for use in the guidance and control of the aircraft, said system comprising: a forward looking cross track laser altimeter operative to emit pulsed laser beams at a predetermined rate along line swept paths forward and downward at a predetermined angle to the flight path of the aircraft, said pulsed laser beams being line swept back and forth across a ground track forward the aircraft and as the aircraft moves along its flight path, said line sweeps serpentining an area of terrain forward the aircraft, said laser altimeter for receiving returns of said pulsed laser beams from the terrain and objects on the terrain in said area forward the aircraft; said laser altimeter operative to measure times-of-flight and line sweep positions of said returns and generate for each return a data profile comprising range and line sweep position thereof based on the corresponding time-of-flight and position measurements, said data profiles being output from the laser altimeter; a first unit coupled to the laser altimeter for receiving said return data profiles and for assembling the data profiles of a predetermined number of consecutive line sweeps to form composite data of a three-dimensional image of a first predetermined area of terrain forward the aircraft, said composite data of the three dimensional image including data of terrain contours and object profiles on the terrain; a memory storing a terrain contour data base; a second unit coupled to said first unit for accessing said memory to retrieve terrain contour data comprising terrain contour data of a second predetermined area substantially consistent with the boundaries of the first predetermined area, and for comparing data of the first and second predetermined areas to identify object profiles on the terrain in the first predetermined area for use in the guidance and control of the aircraft.