Abstract: A laser beam scanner in its preferred form has a laser source which emits a laser beam at a prism. The prism receives and deflects the laser beam toward a spherical lens, which receives the laser beam and converges it. A spherical reflector then redirects and focuses the converging laser beam to a laser scan spot along a scan line. The laser beam scanner may include one or multiple prisms, wherein individual prisms may be single or multi-faceted prisms. The laser beam scanner effectively eliminates across-scan error and generates a mathematically perfect scan line. The scanner has a high optical efficiency and a very short retrace time or blackout time. A method for laser scanning using a prism, spherical lens, and spherical reflector is also disclosed.

Abstract: A laser scanning device and a method for operation thereof includes a laser source, and a laser beam deflector assembly. The laser beam deflector assembly includes a motor driven hollow shaft. The rotating hollow shaft includes an optical element at an end portion thereof. The laser source emits a collimated laser beam which passes through the rotating hollow shaft, and is deflected by the rotating optical element mounted within the hollow shaft. The rotating optical element continuously deflects the laser beam and generates a conical-shaped laser beam, which when intercepted produces an inscribed circle. The inscribed circle is collapsed by a scan lens so as to provide uni-directional or multi-directional scan along a desired scan track.

Abstract: A device and method for improving and refining a shooter's skills has a laser or light beam, when the device is turned on, emitted from a laser diode or a light emitting diode to a collimating lens and through a hollow shaft, and to a prism being rotated by a shaft and motor. The beam is deflected in different directions so that a rapid rotation of the prism permits the beam to form a substantially circular reflecting image. The diameter of the image can be adjusted by adjusting an adjustable lens. When a shooter aims at a clay target, the shooter moves the gun barrel at a sweeping line of sight along a target flight path until the moving target intersects a point on the circumference of the substantially circular image for indicating to the shooter that a proper lead has been achieved for successfully shooting the moving target. Moreover, a receiver can be mounted on the housing for allowing an instructor to evaluate how well the shooter is performing.

Abstract: A pavement inspection apparatus 10 is described for inspecting the condition of a full lane of pavement using a vehicle capable of traveling along the lane at normal traffic speeds, such as 55 miles per hour. The apparatus is capable of determing the elevational profile of the pavement and the size and shapes of surface distress features such as longitudinal cracks, transverse cracks, aligator cracks, design cracks, potholes and rutting. The apparatus 10 has two video array cameras 36 and 40 that project downward onto the pavement with overlapping fields of view for generating X-Y pixel data representing the intensities of reflected light from a full lane width of pavement as the vehicle moves over the pavement. The cameras 36 and 40 are mounted at acute angles with respect to each other to enable an elevational profile to be developed for the pavement from correlated pixel data from the two cameras.

Abstract: A pavement inspection apparatus is described for inspecting the condition of a full lane of pavement using a vehicle capable of traveling along the lane at normal traffic speeds, such as 55 miles per hour. The apparatus is capable of determining the size and shapes of surface distress features such as longitudinal cracks, transverse cracks, alligator cracks, design joints, and potholes. The apparatus has two video array cameras that project downward onto the pavement with overlapping fields of view for generating X-Y pixel data from at least a 12-foot lane width of highway pavement as the vehicle moves over the pavement. The cameras are mounted at acute angles with respect to each other. The apparatus includes distress feature analysis electronics for determining the size, shape and location of surface distress features and evaluates such features against preset standard values to determine the severity of the determined features. Additionally, the apparatus has infrared cameras for subsurface exploration.

Abstract: A method for direct measurement of the vertical displacement of a point on the surface of pavement upon application of a load thereto is disclosed. This method measures the vertical displacement through the use of optical equipment. Specifically, the displacement is equivalent to the vertical movement of an optical focusing element between the position of the element when a point on the surface of the pavement is in focus with and without the application of the load. This point linear displacement measurement can also be applied to the calculation of a volumetric displacement. An apparatus capable of carrying out these methods is also described.