	US 7,466,343 B2
	General line of sight stabilization system
Nahum Gat, 1227 9th St., Manhattan Beach, Calif. 90266 (US)
Filed on Jul. 20, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/710,538.
Prior Publication US 2006/0017816 A1, Jan. 26, 2006
Int. Cl. H04N 5/228 (2006.01); H04N 9/47 (2006.01); G03B 39/00 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 348—208.11 [348/146; 348/208.2; 348/208.14; 396/7]

18 Claims

1. A compact line of sight stabilization system for use with an imaging system located about an unstable carrier platform, said stabilization system comprising:

at least two mirrors, each of said mirrors being mounted to a fixed platform by aiming means and in a plane substantially parallel to a target to provide substantially orthogonal observation of a ground position;

said aiming means allowing independent rotation of said mirrors about at least one of the axes in the plane of said mirrors;

at least one of said mirrors being mounted by aiming means allowing rotation about at least two of said axes;

a hardware control means for directing said aiming means in response to measurements taken from three orthogonally positioned gyrometers that measure a rotation rate of the unstable carrier platform about the at least two of said axes; wherein the aiming means occurs without reorientation of the fixed platform relative to the unstable carrier platform; and wherein movement of the at least one of said mirrors occurs in a substantially continuous pattern that predicatively mirrors motion of and approximately angular velocities and accelerations of the unstable carrier platform;

said stabilization system being mounted in a line of sight of said imaging system; and

said stabilization system providing at least one of pitch, row, yaw, and forward motion compensation corrections while maintaining consistent image orientation, for said imaging system.