Detecting modulated lasers in the battlefield and determining their direction

Alastair D. McAulay

doi:10.1117/12.819423

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11 May 2009 Detecting modulated lasers in the battlefield and determining their direction

Alastair D. McAulay

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Proceedings Volume 7336, Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XVIII; 73361J (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.819423
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2009, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Many different lasers are deployed in the battlefield for range finding, target designation, communications, dazzle, location of targets, munitions guidance, and destruction. Laser warning devices on military systems detect and identify lasers striking them in order to assess their threat level and plan avoidance or retaliation. Types of lasers and their characteristics are discussed: power, frequency, coherence, bandwidth, direction, pulse length and modulation. We describe three approaches for laser warning devices from which specific cases may be tailored: simultaneous estimation of direction and wavelength with a grating, wavefront direction only estimation for low light levels with lenses, absolute simultaneous wavelength only estimation with a Fizeau interferometer. We investigate the feasibility and compare the suitability of these approaches for different applications.

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Alastair D. McAulay "Detecting modulated lasers in the battlefield and determining their direction", Proc. SPIE 7336, Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XVIII, 73361J (11 May 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.819423

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