Patent ID: 6912176

Claim:
Apparatus for obtaining information relative to a target area over which the apparatus travels and projects energy toward the target area in periodic transmission cycles, comprising: an array of active elements having first and second sections with each said element providing an output signal in response to energy reflected back from said target area; said first section of elements having a length L; said second section of elements having first and second spaced apart elements separated by a gap and spaced by a defined distance of M, wherein M≦L; signal processing circuitry including a computation circuit for computing any yaw and sway of said apparatus during said travel, to provide corresponding correction signals; said signal processing circuitry also including circuitry for generating synthetic aperture signals; the output signals from said elements of said first section being provided to said circuitry which generates said synthetic aperture signals; the output signals from said first and second spaced apart elements of said second section being exclusively provided to said computation circuit which computes yaw and sway; the output signal from at least one element of said first section also being provided to said computation circuit which computes yaw and sway; said correction signals being provided to said circuitry which generates said synthetic aperture signals, to modify the signals provided to it in the presence of any yaw or sway.