Method of, and apparatus for, area and air space surveillance

The proposed surveillance system for surveilling a given scenario in azimuth and in elevation comprises an infrared surveillance detection device passively operating in the infrared region and a radar search and/or tracking device operating in the active mode for range determination. The targets or target information data are obtained as video signals from the infrared surveillance detection device during each search cycle and are processed in an infrared data processor. The video signals are discriminated and stored in an infrared signal processor with respect to their elevation angle values ( lambda ) and azimuth angle values ( alpha ). The values of the azimuth angle ( alpha ) are simultaneously fed to a radar activation and contol unit for triggering a momentary or short-time emission by the radar search and/or tracking device. Genuine target coordinates with respect to elevation, azimuth and range as determined by the infrared surveillance detection device and the radar search and/or tracking device are fed to a superordinate fire control system while false alarms or false-target related data are suppressed in order to prevent further radar emission in the direction of such target objects.