Abstract: An N-bit analogue-to-digital converter can increase the resolution by 3 bits, by very precise coding of the differential phase at the output of the electro-optic phase modulator controlled by the electric signal to be converted. The optical signals obtained are processed by an electro-optic device that outputs electric signals that are functions of the sine and cosine of the phase. A coding device uses the symmetry of the trigonometric circle partitioned into four consecutive sectors between 0 and 27.pi. in order to convert the absolute values of the electric signals obtained on (N-3) bits, independently of the home sector of the phase. A transcoding device uses the value of the sine and cosine coded on (N-3) bits, to output a value V of the electric signal, on N bits, as a function of the home sector.

Abstract: The invention relates to towed sonars. It consists in compensating electronically for the movement of the antenna in order to suppress the Doppler shift of the fixed echoes. In order to do that in a towed linear antenna (203) comprising N sensors (205), M (M<N) successive sensors are selected which are switched electronically in order to make them travel synthetically over the antenna in the direction opposite to the movement of the latter at a speed equal to twice the forward speed of the antenna. In order not to have too large a number of physical sensors, the signals from the latter are interpolated in order to obtain synthetic sensors which are sufficient in number to reduce the increment of the movement of the synthetic sub-antenna in such a way as to suppress the parasitic lobes due to the incremental nature of this movement. It makes it possible to increase the sensitivity of sonars without increasing their power. FIG. 2.

Abstract: A process for estimating the distance between a stationary object and a vehicle by providing the processing of images from the speed of enlargement of an image of an object seen from a vehicle. Images of the object are analyzed by an image speed sensor mounted on a vehicle and these images are centered relative to the speed vector of the vehicle. The luminance values of the pixels of the images successively analyzed by the sensor and the luminance value of pixels of a series of predicted images are integrated in a plurality of image memories corresponding respectively to a plurality of predetermined values for the distance. The luminance value of each pixel of a predicted image is determined as a function of the integrated luminance value for a pixel being considered, as a function of the speed of the vehicle, as a function of the position of the pixel in the predicted image and as a function of the distance value corresponding to the particular memory being considered.

Abstract: A marker that can be used to increase the precision and efficiency of the guidance of homing heads towards a target. In order to mark targets on land, this marker has: an ovoid casing provided with a firing fuse, and a magnet and a coil for detecting flux variations during an impact on a magnetic surface. Inside the casing there are: a battery, an electronic control and transmission circuit, and a cylinder of thrustors connected to one another by pyrotechnical delaying mechanisms. The cylinder opens out on to a single nozzle which is inclined with respect to the axis of the casing. After impact on the ground, the electronic circuit controls the firing of the first thrustor. The other thrustors cause leaps until the marker gets fixed to a magnetic surface, through the magnet.

Abstract: A device and method are disclosed for connecting an electronic component so that it can be tested and mounted. According to the method, pads on the component are first connected to pads on a surrounding frame, by means of conducting wires. The component is tested by probes of the testing instruments to the pads of the surrounding frame. When the tests are done, the component and its frame is placed on the substrate on which it has to be mounted. The pads of the component are connected to pads on the substrate by the wires used for connection to the pads of the surrounding frame. After connection, the wires are cut between the substrate pads and the frame pads, and then the frame is removed.

Abstract: The invention pertains to a system and method for transmitting temporal data relating to the starting of a device placed in a missile launched from a carrier system. The command to fire the missile is transmitted to the missile from the carrier system by means of a firing control wire. The method consists in using the control wire to also transmit the temporal data to the device specifying when to start up the device after the missile has been launched.

Abstract: The optical and electronic equipment normally carried by an aircraft pilot's helmet is carried by a support element which is placed at a distance from the helmet and accordingly relieves the load on the pilot's head. The support element is maintained in a predetermined position location with respect to the helmet by means of a detection assembly, a computer for determining errors in positioning, a control circuit which generates signals corresponding to these errors, and a set of jacks controlled by the error signals for modifying the position of the support element with respect to the aircraft structure and cancelling the positioning errors.

Abstract: The invention provides a connector for flat connections adapted for connecting electrically together printed circuit tracks or printed circuit tracks to a flat cable or two flat cables together. The connector includes a sleeve made from a shape memory material in which the conducting elements intended to be in electric contact are superimposed. The sleeve is adapted for applying transverse forces under the effect of a predetermined temperature so that electric continuity may be provided between these elements.

Abstract: The apparatus according to the invention relates to a guided vehicle control process and apparatus which comprises passive beacons, as well as radars permitting the detection thereof. The presence or absence of a beacon permits the automatic control of a train, e.g. with a view to automating the driving thereof. The apparatus according to the invention uses retrodirectional beacons and/or beacons inducing a polarization rotation of the radiation received. The use of retrodirectional beacons induces a change of frequency by Doppler effect of the reflected radiation. The change of the Doppler frequency and/or the polarization rotation of the radiation improves the signal-clutter ratio and/or the separation of the transmission and reception channels.

Abstract: The invention relates to Doppler radar making it possible to subject the ground to surveillance.It consists of providing a conventional Doppler radar having a transmitter, a receiver, processing means making it possible to supply a binary signal indicating the presence or absence of a moving target in the given distance gate series and a display screen with means making it possible to take account of certain relative danger criteria, as a function of the distance at which the targets are located and as a function of the speed at which they are moving. These means make it possible to control the screen, in order that the relative danger is displayed in the form of an overbrightness for the targets considered dangerous.It makes it possible to improve the display conditions of ground surveillance Doppler radars.

Abstract: The invention relates to an analog-digital coder incorporating n channels corresponding to the bits of the output word. Each channel comprises at least one light intensity modulator. As a function of the positive or negative half-cycles of the output signal of channel i+1, a supplementary phase shift of +.DELTA..PHI. or -.DELTA..PHI. is introduced onto the output signal of channel i, with /.DELTA..PHI./<.pi./2.

Abstract: Electrical signals delivered by detectors at the surface of a first high-capacitance insulating layer which provides a separation between a first array of metallic electrodes and the detectors are collected by the electrodes by capacitive coupling. The first array of electrodes is electrically connected to a second array of electrodes having smaller dimensions. The two arrays are separated by a second insulating layer and the second array is located at the interface between the second insulating layer and the oxide layer which covers the semiconductor readout substrate.

Abstract: The switching unit comprises for two-way transmission two branches, each of which includes in series an input mixer, a channel filter and an output mixer, and two variable frequency digitally controlled carrier current generators, the first of which feeds the input mixer of the first branch and the output mixer of the second branch, and the other of which feeds the output mixer of the first branch and the input mixer of the second branch. In a switching arrangement using such units, a telephone channel can be transferred from an incoming multiplexed group to an outgoing multiplexed group by means of two units whose second generators receive a common frequency, while their first generators respectively receive frequencies corresponding to the positions of the considered channel in the incoming and outgoing groups respectively.

Abstract: The image signal is divided into first and second component signals respectively occupying a lower and a higher frequency band, and the second component signal is translated into the lower frequency band by means of a modulator fed by an oscillator, after which the two component signals are alternately directed, each for the duration of a frame period, to the output of the circuit, bursts of the output signal from the oscillator being added, during the horizontal fly-back intervals, to the frequency translated signal. In the decoding circuit, which is designed to simultaneously receive the signals derived from two reading units, the second of which delivers the recorded signal time shifted by a frame period relatively to the other, the second component signal is retranslated into the higher frequency band by a modulator fed by an oscillator synchronised by mean of the recorded bursts.