Cloaking Device Detection System Developed By Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc

Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. (Murray Hill, NJ) earned U.S. Patent 7,795,596 for a cloaking device detection system

 According to inventor Aref Chowdhury, the system includes an electromagnetic radiation source and an electromagnetic radiation detector.  The electromagnetic radiation source is configured to excite, with electromagnetic radiation having first source frequency, object configured for suppressing responsive emission of electromagnetic radiation having first source frequency.

Electromagnetic radiation detector is configured to receive responsive emission of electromagnetic radiation from object. System is configured to detect presence of object. Method includes exciting, with electromagnetic radiation having first source frequency, object configured for suppressing responsive emission of electromagnetic radiation having first source frequency. Method includes receiving responsive emission of electromagnetic radiation from object and utilizing responsive emission to detect presence of object.

Various types of object detection and location systems and methods, utilizing electromagnetic radiation, have been developed. Radar systems utilizing microwaves, and night-vision systems utilizing infrared light, are examples of such object detection and location systems. Innovations in object detection and location systems utilizing electromagnetic radiation have spurred and been accompanied by developments in apparatus, systems and methods for evading the object detection and location systems.

Stealth surfaces and structures for minimizing the radar signature of aircraft, ships, spacecraft, other vehicles, other movable and stationary objects, and personnel, are examples of technology intended to make object detection and location systems ineffective. As the march goes on in development of anti--object-detection and location technology, there is a continuing need for new object detection and location systems and methods that are capable of detecting and locating aircraft, ships, spacecraft, other vehicles, other movable and stationary objects, and personnel despite deployment of anti--object-detection and location techniques. 

A cloaking device may include, as an example, a metamaterial. Metamaterials are engineered materials whose physical properties are determined by their man-made physical structures. For example, a metamaterial may include a nano-structured or micro-structured regular two- or three-dimensional lattice of metallic building blocks densely packed into an optically effective material.

As another example, a metamaterial may include a polymer blended together with an array of tiny magnetic resonators and an array of wires or diodes that change the paths of electromagnetic radiation in a curved manner. A further example of a metamaterial may include a series of concentric split-ring resonators having U-shaped metal elements of defined dimensions such as millimeter dimensions. Cloaking devices  may be formed of materials, as an additional example, including media having a negative refractive index. 

Alcatel-Lucent USA’s system is designed to detect such cloaked objects.

Figure 3: Flow Chart of the Working Cloaking Detection System 

For further details see: U.S. Patent 7,795,596