Patent ID: 7792431

Claim:
A signal detection system comprising: an electromagnetic signal detector having a limited duty cycle on-time for detecting receipt of electromagnetic signals, at least two optical paths each arranged to receive an electromagnetic signal from a same nominal direction in space and to transmit any received signal towards said signal detector, and a first optical time delay within one of said optical paths for delaying transmission of said received signal towards said signal detector, wherein at least one of said optical paths is arranged to transmit a signal, received during a first time period, to said signal detector during a duty cycle on-time, and said first optical time delay is selected to transmit a signal received during a second time period, earlier than said first time period and before said duty cycle on-time, to said signal detector within said duty cycle on-time, extending the operational range of said signal detector by compressing the real time during which a signal can be received by one of said at least two optical paths into the same duty cycle on-time of said signal detector.