II. Non-Photographic Sensor Systems

1800 | Discovery of the IR spectral region by Sir William Herschel.
1879 | Use of the bolometer by Langley to make temperature measurements of electrical objects.
1889 | Hertz demonstrated reflection of radio waves from solid objects.
1916 | Aircraft tracked in flight by Hoffman using thermopiles to detect heat effects.
1930 | Both British and Germans work on systems to locate airplanes from their thermal patterns at night.
1940 | Development of incoherent radar systems by the British and United States to detect and track aircraft and ships during W.W.II.
1950's | Extensive studies of IR systems at University of Michigan and elsewhere.
1951 | First concepts of a moving coherent radar system.
1953 | Flight of an X-band coherent radar.
1954 | Formulation of synthetic aperture concept (SAR) in radar.
1950's | Research development of SLAR and SAR systems by Motorola, Philco, Goodyear, Raytheon, and others.
1956 | Kozyrev originated Frauenhofer Line Discrimination concept.
1960's | Development of various detectors which allowed building of imaging and non-imaging radiometers, scanners, spectrometers and polarimeters.
1968 | Description of UV nitrogen gas laser system to simulate luminescence.

Primary Author: Nicholas M. Short, Sr. email: nmshort@ptd.net