Muamer Zukic

US Patent:

6448562, Sep 10, 2002

Filed:

Jul 29, 1999

Appl. No.:

09/363955

Inventors:

William A. Seidler - Brownsboro AL
Muamer Zukic - Huntsville AL
Edward L. Fry - Brownsboro AL
Charles H. Hill - Huntsville AL
William Blackwell - Madison AL

Assignee:

Jaycor - San Diego CA

International Classification:

G01T 100

US Classification:

250372, 2503581

Abstract:

A remote sensor for detecting a nuclear source, comprises: a Field-of-View (FOV) structure having an aperture therethrough of area A and a Field-of-View (FOV) angle, the FOV angle centered on a source, and subtending a solid angle to the nuclear source; a plurality of optical filters for filtering photons outside a selected Ultraviolet (UV) band and for transmitting in-band photons according to a selected Transfer Function defining an out-of-band rejection ratio and an in-band transmittance ratio for the selected UV band, the Transfer Function supporting a sensor sensitivity S at the selected UV band for the Field-of-View (FOV) structure to support a Signal-to-Noise ratio of greater than one (1) to detect a nuclear source of nuclear material having a brightness of at least about IR, the selected UV band being selected such that naturally occurring in-band photons are at a brightness of about less than 10 R during daylight and are not naturally occurring at night up to about 20 km Earth altitude, and the in-band photons have a mean free path in air large enough and a radiative emission rate short enough to allow the in-band photons to reach the Field-of-View structure; and an optical camera having pixels configured to receive the in-band photons transmitted through the optical filters for measuring the in-band photons, the in-band photons being emitted from airglow caused by ionizing radiation from the nuclear material.