Importance

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Abstract

A retroreflective attitude marker includes at least two intersecting reflecting planes oriented at 90 degrees with respect to one another, and having the property that incident laser beams which are perpendicular to the line of intersection of the two planes are reflected directly back to the laser source. Each retroreflective attitude marker therefore has a single retroreflecting plane perpendicular to line of intersection of the two mutually perpendicular planes. Using three layer illuminator/receivers, directed toward a spinning object, on which a retroreflective attitude marker is located, the rate of spin and the orientation of the spin axis of the object on which the retroreflective marker is located, may be determined mathematically. Thus, with one or more of the retroreflecting devices located on the object being tracked, each of the available retroreflecting planes sweeps around through space, and when it is coincident with one or more of the laser illuminator/receivers, a reflected pulse is received at that receiver. The time intervals between these received reflections, together with similar information from one or more additional illuminator/receivers, provides adequate data for determination of the attitude and spin rate of the object under consideration.

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First Claim