Lidar-Assisted Detection, Acquisition, Pointing, and Tracking of Small UAVs

An elastic backscatter lidar operating at a covert wavelength in the ultraviolet can be employed to perform high-precision three-dimensional pointing and tracking of small UAV targes in a tactical environment. Imaging of the rapidly pulsing lidar beam will control the airspace by acquiring a hard target return from any solid object in the airspace above a threshold that is well-below the cross-section of even a very small UAV. Detection of targets by wide-field and narrow-field passive optical sensors in the proposed sensor will hand-off to auto-tracking based on the lidar return. Boresighted imagery of the passive sensors will be used during both daytime and nighttime to confirm detection and destruction of the small UAV. The lidar beam and its imaging is solar blind. A coude optical system in the idar telescope mount will serve for laser beam weapon delivery. It is boresighted to the lidar and passive optical sensors.