Patent ID: 7265710

Claim:
A method for determining the height H T of a target above a surface, the method comprising the steps of: (a) determining a distance R from a source to a target; (b) determining a distance L representative of a distance traveled by a signal from the target that is reflected by the surface to the source; (c) determining a height H of the source above the surface; (d) determining the height H T of the target using the equation: H T = ( L 2 - R 2 ) 4 ⁢ H ; (e) determining a parameter a using the formula a = R 2 - ( H T - H P ) 2 1 + H T H P , wherein H P is initially set equal to H; (f) updating the parameter H P using the formula H P =√{square root over (( Re+H ) 2 −a 2 )}− Re, wherein Re is the radius of a sphere: (g) repeating step (e) using the updated parameter H P ; (h) repeating step (f); (i) determining a height of the target using the formula HTR = - Re + ( Re + H T ) 2 + a 2 ⁡ [ H T H P ] 2 ; and outputting the height HTR.