Patent ID: 8781790

Claim:
A remote sensing system for obtaining range information about an object in a predetermined direction, the system comprising: a pulsed signal source for emitting at least one pulsed signal; a transceiver for directing the at least one pulsed signal in the predetermined direction and for receiving at least one return signal associated with the at least one pulsed signal from along the predetermined direction; at least one detector, each for gathering the at least one return signal from the transceiver; and a signal processor for: correlating at least one falling edge of the at least one return signal gathered by each of the at least one detectors, with a falling edge of the at least one pulsed signal and determining therefrom a range from the system to a reflecting entity in the predetermined direction; comparing a feature of one of the at least one falling edge of the at least one return signal against at least one threshold to characterize the reflecting entity as being from the object or from an obscuring aerosol cloud; and discarding the range associated with the at least one falling edge of the at least one return signal if the reflecting entity is characterized as being from the aerosol cloud.