Abstract: A microwave patch antenna comprising: a plurality of conductive antenna patterns; a plurality of groundplanes; a plurality of feed elements; a plurality of feed slots to allow feed elements to pass through the non-woven dielectric spacers; and a plurality of dielectric separator layers comprised of corrugated non-woven fabric as necessary to form a patch antenna construction.

Abstract: A method of constructing fabric microwave antennas with a calendering apparatus which comprises: providing a calendaring apparatus having a plurality of roller two of said rollers are arranged as a nip or meeting point; heating said rollers located at said nip; setting the pressure at said nip or meeting point of said rollers; shaping antenna patches from conductive fabric; feeding at least one roll of carrier fabric into said heated and pressurized nip; placing said preformed conductive patches on to the carrier fabric before said carrier fabric enters said heated and pressurized nip of the calendering apparatus so that said preformed conductive patches and said carrier fabric are bonded or calendered by the heat and pressure effects of said nip; and cutting said calendered or bonded layers of conductive and non-conductive fabric into desired shapes for incorporation into flexible structures.

Abstract: A method of attaching conductive fiber to composite laminate reinforcement fabric and to other fabrics utilizing stitching which comprises: a means of precisely arranging said conductive fiber on the surface of said reinforcement fabric to minimize radio frequency losses; an overstitching means wherein said conductive fiber is attached to said reinforcement fabric by a non-conductive retention thread.

Abstract: Antennas are fabricated using fabric substrates, and, in some embodiments, known stitching techniques to fabricate the conductive members required, including connecting wiring and radiating and/or receiving elements. In one embodiment, one or more “patch antennas”, that is, planar radiating and/or receiving elements, are connected to transmitting and/or receiving electronics by means of a connector and feed line structure. The antenna structure comprises multiple layers of fabric, some of which may contain patch antenna and/or feedline patterns made of conductive fabric, made by embroidery using conductive thread or yarn, or onto which patch antennas may be bonded. A ground plane layer may be fabricated similarly. Between the fabric layers containing the conductive patterns, there are one or more layers of insulating fabrics that separate the conductive fabric layers by a dielectric layer. Additional sheets of adhesive between the fabric layers may be used to attach the fabric layers.

Abstract: A method of constructing an antenna, filter, or similar structure comprising one or more planar electrically conductive radiating and/or receiving elements having conductive feedlines attached thereto and a planar around reference conductor spaced therefrom by a spacer layer, comprising the steps of: providing a planar dielectric fabric spacer layer; applying conductive material to a first side of said spacer layer, by an embroidery process employing conductive thread or yarn, to define said electrically conductive radiating and/or receiving elements having conductive feedlines attached thereto; providing a planar around reference conductor on the opposite side of said planar spacer layer in a position corresponding to the pattern of said electrically conductive radiating and/or receiving elements having conductive feedlines attached thereto; and providing a connection whereby said conductive feedlines attached to said electrically conductive radiating and/or receiving elements, and said planar around referen

Abstract: A microwave patch antenna comprising: a plurality of conductive antenna patterns; a plurality of groundplanes; a plurality of feed elements; a plurality of feed slots to allow feed elements to pass through the non-woven dielectric spacers; and a plurality of dielectric separator layers comprised of corrugated non-woven fabric as necessary to form a patch antenna construction.

Abstract: A method of constructing fabric microwave antennas with a calendering apparatus which comprises: heating the rollers of the calendering apparatus; setting the pressure at the nip or meeting point of said rollers of said calendering apparatus; shaping antenna patches from conductive fabric; feeding at least one roll of carrier fabric to the heated rolling drums of said calendering apparatus; placing preformed conductive patches on to the carrier fabric before the carrier fabric enters said heated rolling drums of the calendering apparatus; and cutting the calendered or bonded layers of conductive and non-conductive fabric into desired shapes for incorporation into flexible structures.

Abstract: A conformal antenna comprising: an electrically neutral airframe; metalized fabric covering said airframe; and transmission lines attached to said metalized fabric to connect to a transceiver.

Abstract: An Antenna comprising a ground layer, a feed layer, an antennal layer and a corrugated or dimpled non-woven fabric dielectric substrate interposed between two of the layers. The use of said non-woven corrugated fabric is to provide differing distances between the ground layer and the antenna layer as well as to provide both light weight construction and flexibility.

Abstract: This patent describes fabric antenna and fabric microwave circuits and the method for making the same. Microwave conducting material is incorporated into non-woven fabrics using a calendaring process to produce an antenna or microwave circuits. The resulting material can then be manufactured into garments, either as filler material or as a garment itself The carrier fabric of these antennas also allows for said antennas to be flexible and allows for folding for storage. In the current state of the art, antennas are added to a garment during said garment's construction as opposed to incorporation into the fabric itself.

Abstract: Antennas are fabricated using fabric substrates, and, in some embodiments, known stitching techniques to fabricate the conductive members required, including connecting wiring and radiating and/or receiving elements. In one embodiment, one or more “patch antennas”, that is, planar radiating and/or receiving elements, are connected to transmitting and/or receiving electronics by means of a connector and feed line structure. The antenna structure comprises multiple layers of fabric, some of which may contain patch antenna and/or feedline patterns made of conductive fabric, made by embroidery using conductive thread or yarn, or onto which patch antennas may be bonded. A ground plane layer may be fabricated similarly. Between the fabric layers containing the conductive patterns, there are one or more layers of insulating fabrics that separate the conductive fabric layers by a dielectric layer. Additional sheets of adhesive between the fabric layers may be used to attach the fabric layers.

Abstract: A system and method for imaging target detection includes scanning a target area to produce an image of the target area and discriminating a target by identifying image pixels of similar intensity levels, grouping contiguous pixels with similar intensity levels into regions, calculating a set of features for each region and qualifying regions as possible targets in response to the features; discriminating the background by identifying image pixels of similar intensity levels, grouping contiguous pixels of similar intensity levels into regions, calculating a set of features for each background region and qualifying background regions as terrain characteristics in response to the features and analyzing the qualified terrain characteristics and qualified target candidates to determine and prioritize targets.

Abstract: A sonar system is provided for identifying a foreign object includes a technique for providing a two dimensional array of pixels, each one of the pixels representing the intensity of a signal at a predetermined range position and a predetermined cross-range position from a reference position and quantizing the intensity of each one of the pixels into one of a plurality of levels. The technique further includes comparing a distribution of the levels of pixels over a range scan at a cross-range position with the distribution of levels of pixels over a range scan at a different cross-range position to identify the existence of a foreign object. With such an arrangement a sonar system is provided that can automatically detect the existence of a foreign object such as a mine.

Abstract: A sonar system is provided for mapping the bottom of a body of water to identify a submerged foreign object. A sequence of the sonar pulses is transmitted and directed toward the bottom. The mapping is formed from a sequence of echo returns. Each one of the echo returns is produced as a range scan in a range direction response to a corresponding one of the transmitted sonar pulses. The sonar system stores signals representative of the intensity of the echo returns in a two dimensional array of pixels. Each one of the pixels represents the intensity of the echo return at a predetermined range position from the system in the range direction and a predetermined cross-range position from a reference position of the system in the cross-range direction.

Abstract: A pseudo-random or transient synthesized signal is provided by analysis of a plurality of related signals by vector quantization of linear predictive coding coefficients (cluster representatives) of time blocks of the signals and providing cumulative probability matrices for the transition from one cluster representative for one block to a cluster representative of the next successive block of each of the signals. Synthesis of the pseudo-random signal is provided by randomly selecting according to a cumulative transition probability, the cluster representative of a next successive block given the selected cluster representative of the previous block, the coefficient of each block time being applied to a noise-excited recursive filter to generate the pseudo-random synthesized signal. Synthesis includes probabalistic models using Markov transitions, to produce transient sounds such as sonar, hatch closings, and hull groans.

Abstract: This invention utilizes a time-varying recursive filter where the multipliers following successive delay elements of the filter have sets of normalized covariance matrix coefficients which are stored and which have been obtained from the normalized autocorrelation coefficients for each of a plurality of time frames of the sampled transient signal which is to be synthesized from the stored coefficients. The normalization constant during a frame is also applied as a scale factor to the recursive filter. The input of the filter is a pseudo-random noise generator signal applied to the recursive filter at the sample rate. A plurality of successive time frames of operation of the recursive filter and with a set of coefficients for each time frame provides the entire synthesized transient signal. An analog and digital implementation of the synthesizer are described.