A laser obstacle avoidance and display system

Author

Busbridge, M.L. ; Puleston, D.J.

Author_Institution

GEC Avionics Ltd., Rochester, UK

fYear

1989

fDate

22-26 May 1989

Firstpage

179

Abstract

The authors describe an airborne laser system that provides a pilot with a display of obstacles such as power cables ahead of his aircraft. This system, LOCUS (Laser Obstacle and Cable Unmasking System), was flight-tested by the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, where cable detection ranges of over 2 km were measured. It is found that real-time processing of the laser returns can achieve a real-time display of obstacles in the flight path sufficiently early to enable safe evasive action. In addition, real-time processing of the laser returns can provide unmapped obstacle data to enhance a digital terrain system in low-level covert terrain-following mode

Keywords

aerospace computing; aircraft instrumentation; computerised instrumentation; computerised picture processing; display instrumentation; laser beam applications; safety systems; CO₂ laser; LOCUS; Laser Obstacle and Cable Unmasking System; airborne laser system; cable detection; computerised picture processing; digital terrain system; display of obstacles; laser returns; obstacle avoidance; power cables; real-time display; real-time processing; safety; Aerospace electronics; Aircraft; Airports; Displays; Hazards; Night vision; Power cables; Power lasers; Radar detection; System testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace and Electronics Conference, 1989. NAECON 1989., Proceedings of the IEEE 1989 National

Conference_Location

Dayton, OH

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NAECON.1989.40210

Filename

40210