Abstract: A singlet telescope is provided for reshaping the laser beam to a larger or smaller diameter while maintaining the inherent quality of the beam. Applications for the singlet telescope include intercavity expansion to accommodate the damage thresh-old of various components, expansion of beams to match the size of different wavelengths for final collimation, and shrinking of beams to provide high irradiance for nonlinear processes such as optical parametric oscillation and frequency doubling, with the above applications usually requiring low power magnification or demagnification. Problems involving the utilization of these telescopes over wide temperature ranges and ghost reflections in which a light is reflected back to a pumping laser are minimized with the singlet construction, with the ghost reflections potentially creating damage of components including self-damage or breakdown of air, as well as damage to a Q-switched resonator which causes pre-lasing.

Abstract: A miniature waveform modulator is provided to modulate an infrared laser. The miniature waveform modulator outputs a pulse train having different and specified pulse widths, with the pulse train used to modulate the laser. In one embodiment, the pulse train extends over a significant period of time without resorting to generating short pulse trains and combining them. The subject architecture permits the miniature waveform modulator to be compact and implementable on an electronic circuit card. It is significant that the pulse train is generated without software intervention by automatically copying a timing table to a buffer that is automatically read out to a pulse generator. If the buffer size is smaller than that required by the timing table, slices or segments of the timing table are sequentially read out or copied to the buffer, with the next timing table segment transferred to the buffer upon read out of a prior segment.

Abstract: A CW radar (10) is used to detect motion of objects (22) behind a wall (20) by projecting a radar beam through the wall and by measuring the returns from the objects behind the wall, with a change in the phase difference between the transmitted and received CW signals providing an indication of motion behind the wall and thus the presence of an individual.

Abstract: A wideband meander line loaded antenna is configured to be flush mounted to a conductive surface serving as a ground plane by embedding the meander line components within a conductive cavity surrounded at its top edge by the ground plane. The antenna thus looks out of a cavity recessed in the surface. By permitting flush mounting the meander line antenna, not only can the antenna dimensions be minimized due to the use of the meander line loaded antenna configuration, but in aircraft applications no part of the antenna exists above the skin of the aircraft, thereby to minimize turbulent flow. Also disclosed is a method and apparatus in which a lossy dielectric is placed across the feed points of a loop type meander line loaded antenna to markedly decrease the VSWR to below 3:1, thus to increase the bandwidth of a relatively wideband 3:1 meander line loaded antenna to 6:1.

Abstract: An active armor system which includes an outer and an inner armor layer with a medial space between these inner and outer armor layers layer. One or more relatively small shaped charges are positioned on the inner armor layer in the medial space. If the outer armor layer is struck by a projectile having a shaped charge, one or more of the small shaped charges positioned in the medial space near where the projectile has struck the outer armor layer are detonated. The small shaped charges in the medial space are positioned so that when they are detonated, their jets will tend to intersect with or be oppositely directed to the jet from the shaped charge on the projectile so as to disrupt the jet from the projectile and prevent the penetration of the inner armor layer. The small shaped charges in the medial space may be detonated by an electrical current produced when a piezoelectric material, an electrostrictive material, or a magnetostrictive material in the outer armor layer is struck by the projectile.

Abstract: A system is presented that provides real-time performance for iterative multi-user detectors, such as Turbo MUDs, which are used to separate simultaneous transmissions on the same frequency, by permitting the MUD to use a less computationally intense, fast-processing algorithm and to correct for errors caused by the fast processing. In order to reduce the errors, a voting system is coupled to the output of the multi-user detector within the iterative system. The voting system provides confidence values on a bit-by-bit basis for the estimates made by the multi-user detector, with the confidence values then being utilized as soft inputs to a bank of conventional single-user decoders.

Abstract: Chalcogenide technology is used for radiation hardening for spaceborne systems and more particularly in C-RAM form for processors, field programmable gate arrays, startup RAMs, shadow storage and single-chip systems to protect these units.

Abstract: An E-field sensing system is provided to detect the presence of obstacles, including wires, power lines or trip wires, as well as towers, guy wires, buildings and elevated terrain, in which a variation or tilt of the iso-potential electrostatic field adjacent the obstacle is detected. In one embodiment the bearing to the obstacle is ascertained. The result is the detection of power lines from as far away as at least 1,000 feet and unpowered wires from as far away as at least 100 feet, thus reducing pilot anxiety for low level missions as well as providing for wire strike avoidance.

Abstract: A method for detecting, tracking and locating submarines (24) utilizes pulsed coherent radiation from a laser (12) that is projected down through a water column, with particles in the water producing speckle from backscatter of the random particle distribution, with correlation of two closely time-spaced particle-based speckle patterns providing an intensity measurement indicative of the presence of a submarine. Subsurface submarine movement provides a subsurface wake which causes movement of particles such that two closely-spaced “snapshots” of the returns from particles in the same water column can detect particle movement due to the wake. The magnitude of the speckle pattern change indicates particle movement. In one embodiment, the return signals are imaged onto an intensified CCD or APA array that capture two successive laser pulses through the utilization of dual pixel registered cameras.

Abstract: A system is provided to aid in laying out circuits on a semiconductor wafer, in which a wafer map is automatically generated when entering chip sizes, arrangements and other enterable factors, with a goal to maximize yield probability. The subject system accommodates different chip types and arrangements within a wafer map and addresses edge exclusion, utilization of chiplets and accommodation of different centering techniques, including a variety of ways of measuring offsets, while outputting a display of replicated circuits on the wafer as well as chip count and density, utilizing a portable, tailorable, extendable PC-based program featuring an easy-to-use graphical interface. The software application provides a user with different graphical views customized for different process areas, such as lithography and dicing, with the application being useful for any semiconductor manufacturing facility, foundry or similar industry that needs to generate wafer maps automatically to maximize yield probability.

Abstract: A method for defeating or reducing the effectiveness of efforts to detect, track or target a naval vessel by means of its characteristic underwater and electrical fields. In this method, a wave form which mimics the characteristic electrical field produced by a particular type of naval vessel is first ascertained. A decoy which is able to produce, amplify and transmit this wave form which mimics the characteristic electrical field produced by said particular type of naval vessel is then deployed.

Abstract: A standard slow wave meander line having sections of alternating impedance relative to a conductor plate is provided with a top shield connected to the conductor plane for the purpose of lowering the resonant frequency of narrow band antennas and lowering the low frequency cutoff limit of wide band antennas due to a higher delay per unit length occasioned by the use of the top shield.

Abstract: An electro-optical cable (38) which includes an optical element (48) having an elongated glass fiber core (50), a medial cushioning layer (54) concentrically surrounding the glass fiber core, and an outer hard shell (56) material surrounding the medial cushioning layer. The cable also includes at least one electrically conductive element (40) comprising an elongated conductive core (42) and a dielectric layer (44) concentrically surrounding the electrically conductive element.

Abstract: A method for intercepting and a defeating rocket propelled grenade (RPG) which includes the steps of detecting a thermal signature from a launch of the RPG; and cueing a narrow beam radar which locates the RPG and develops a ballistic solution and target intercept point for intercepting the PPG with an intercept vehicle.

Abstract: A collapsible discone antenna is provided with an ultra wide band width by providing a collapsible conical skeleton cone, with the rods of the skeleton being provided with meander lines so as to effectively reduce the overall dimensions of the antenna by a factor of 2, with the antenna rods being electrically interconnected at their distal ends so as to eliminate performance degradation due to varying ground conductivities. A specialized feed configuration is used in one embodiment to feed multiple antennas stacked above a low band disc through the utilization of one or more coaxial lines which are wrapped around a ferrite toroid so that they may be passed up through the low-band disc without detuning the low band discone antenna. The use of the toroid inductor between the low-band cone and the low-band disc further reduces the low frequency cutoff of the antenna by markedly decreasing the VSWR at frequencies as low as 20 megahertz.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for correcting the phase difference estimate derived from a two-tone CW radar to correct velocity-induced range estimate phase errors by offsetting the phase difference estimate with a phase correction equal to either of the Doppler frequencies associated with returns from an object multiplied by the time interval between the samplings of the returned waveforms. The correction effectively eliminates the velocity-induced slippage between the phases of the retuned waveforms so that a comparison between the phases of the waveforms can be made to reduce or substantially eliminate range estimate bias.

Abstract: A reconfigurable digital processing system for space includes the utilization of field programmable gate arrays utilizing a hardware centric approach to reconfigure software processors in a space vehicle through the reprogramming of multiple FPGAs such that one obtains a power/performance characteristic for signal processing tasks that cannot be achieved simply through the use of off-the-shelf processors. In one embodiment, for damaged or otherwise inoperable signal processors located on a spacecraft, the remaining processors which are undamaged can be reconfigured through changing the machine language and binary to the field programmable gate arrays to change the core processor while at the same time maintaining undamaged components so that the signal processing functions can be restored utilizing a RAM-based FPGA as a signal processor.

Abstract: A Tonpilz transducer which includes a first stack of piezoceramic elements with a first plurality of electrodes connected to form a first pair of external connections. There is also a second stack of piezoceramic elements with a second plurality of electrodes connected to form a second pair of external connections, and the first and second stacks of piezoceramic elements have opposed polarizations.

Abstract: An inexpensive, small, low-power consumption, wide-band, high resolution spectrum analyzer is provided as a listening device for throw-away applications such as surveillance that involve deployment of large numbers of battery-powered spectrum analyzer modules to detect a signal source such as two-way radio traffic. Power requirements are minimized by the utilization of only one chirp generator to elongate battery life while providing a high resolution result. In order to minimize power drain the spectrum analyzer includes a single compound-chirp Fourier Transform generator. The compound chirp generator is used in one embodiment with a surface acoustic wave, SAW, dispersive delay line in conjunction with a surface electromagnetic wave, SEW dispensive delay line.

Abstract: A low radar cross-section monocone antenna is provided with an ultra-wide bandwidth in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum running from 1 gigahertz to 18 gigahertz by decreasing the low frequency cutoff through enlarging the overall dimensions of the cone while at the same time maintaining the base diameter of the apex of the cone to the initially-set dimension that establishes the high frequency cutoff of the antenna. The apex of this cone that serves as its feed point has a base diameter that results in the wide bandwidth, with the monocone antenna having a 5 dBi gain and omnidirectional coverage.