Patent Grant
7870816
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to fire control systems, and, more particularly, to alignment of fire control systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a fundamental sense, “fire control” refers to the ability to control a weapon system so that one accurately hits a target at which one is firing—typically, with a projectile of some sort. A simple fire control for a simple system—e.g., shooting a firearm—may include merely sighting along the boresight of the weapon. Fire control systems have evolved much higher complexity along with the weapon systems with which they are associated. Consider, for instance, the Aegis combat system found aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers of the United States Navy. The Aegis combat system, according to some sources, is capable of simultaneous anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, including search, tracking, and missile guidance functions simultaneously with a track capacity of over 200 targets at more than 200 miles. In large part, this increase in complexity has arisen from increased automation permitted by rapid growth in powerful computing technology.
Increased complexity typically affords increased opportunity for error. Two kinds of error are “target location error” and “alignment error.” Target location errors are differences between where the weapon system thinks the target is and where it actually is according to an absolute reference. These can arise from such various sources incorrectly reckoning the position to which a moving target will move, errors in data entry, and differences in reference systems between different sources of positioning information. Alignment errors are differences between where the weapon is line of fire actually is and where the line of fire should be.
In a Future Combat Systems (“FCS”) program sponsored by the United States military, an Armed Robotic Vehicle-Assault (Light) (“ARV-A(L)”) vehicle is under development. Weight reduction efforts and integration complexities have forced separation of the gun targeting system from the gun turret so that the gun and targeting system experience a different set of alignment errors. The ARV-A(L) vehicle features the Medium Range Electro Optic Infrared (“MR EO/IR”) targeting sensor system with its internal gimbal mounted directly to a fixed kingpost. The ARV-A (L) also incorporates an XM-307 gun on a separate azimuth rotational system that revolves around the fixed kingpost. In the current design, target states are estimated from MR EO/IR data and fire control uses the MR EO/IR target tracks to develop a fire control solution. Unknown alignment errors between the MR EO/IR sensor and the gun coordinate systems could cause errors in target position and velocity when referenced to the gun coordinate system during firing.
Traditional gun systems have utilized a bore sighting methodology to accurately align the gun and missile systems with the sensor. Bore sighting can be a slow and often repeated process, dependant upon the ability of the system to remain in alignment between bore sighting events. The ARV-A (L), as a 2½ ton to 3 ton class system, will not have the massive and rigid structure traditionally associated with combat vehicles, which will make retention of bore sight alignment much more difficult. Effects of shock and vibration, solar heating, reduced vehicle stiffness through use of light weight materials, and the need to constantly travel over rough terrain will increase the need for bore sighting. On an unmanned vehicle, this is very undesirable, as traditional bore sighting requires at least one man to be involved. A kingpost design further complicates alignment of the sensor to the weapon systems, as two distinct points of azimuth and elevation rotation will exist-one for the sensor, and one for the weapons.
Transfer alignment can be automated and used to align the two azimuth rotation points through the use of inclinometers. The inclinometers could be placed on the sensor and weapons deck base and measurements taken at all 360° of rotation for each of the two rotation points. Differences in angle could be removed via algorithms in the fire control system. This process would eliminate most alignment error between the two azimuth planes, but would not be a complete solution.
The present invention is directed to resolving, or at least reducing, one or all of the problems mentioned above.
In a first aspect, an automated method for engaging a target comprises: slewing a weapon to an estimated target state; and aligning the weapon's boresight with the actual target state. Aligning the weapon's boresight with the actual target state includes designating the target to obtain the actual target state; and zeroing an offset between the actual target state and the estimated target state.
In a second aspect, an apparatus comprises: means for slewing a weapon to an estimated target state; and means aligning the weapon's boresight with the actual target state. The aligning means includes designating the target to obtain the actual target state; and zeroing an offset between the actual target state and the estimated target state.
In a third aspect, a weapon system comprises: a targeting sensor capable of designating a target; a weapon; and an alignment sensor associated with the weapon, and capable of receiving the designation and aligning the weapon's boresight with the designated target.
In a fourth aspect, a laser rangefinder, comprises: a laser designator capable of designating a target; and a quad cell detector capable of receiving the designation.
The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, the drawings illustrate specific embodiments herein described in detail by way of example. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort, even if complex and time-consuming, would be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
The vehicle 106 is, more particularly, an ARV-A(L) vehicle in the illustrated embodiment. The ARV vehicle has semi-autonomous navigation and mission equipment operations, with man-in-the-loop weapon fire authorization via a command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance subsystems (“C4ISR”) network (not shown) such as is known in the art. The ARV-A(L) will be remotely controlled by operators in the field, or perhaps at a rear echelon location.
Selected information regarding the XM307 is set forth in Table 1 below.
(Source: http://www.gdatp.com/products/lethality/xm307/xm307.htm) The XM307 can be also converted to a 12.7 mm machine gun. Additional information regarding the XM307 is widely available from numerous public sources, including a number of sources on the World Wide Web of the Internet or may be obtained from General Dynamics, Armament and Technical Products, Four LakePointe Plaza, 2118 Water Ridge Parkway, Charlotte, N.C. 28217, http://www.gdatp.com. Note, however, that the present invention is not limited to this weapon system and any suitable weapon system known to the art may be employed.
The XM307 is integrated into a vehicle-mounted firing station (not otherwise shown) that is remotely controlled by the operator (not shown). As will be discussed further below, remote sensing systems, such as cameras and range finders, in the firing station allow the operator to accurately and remotely identify and engage targets in a manner known in the art. These remote systems are housed in the targeting sensor 210. The weapon 203 can achieve −15° to +60° or lesser elevation coverage. The weapon system 103 provides the near field protection for the vehicle. It engages targets very near the vehicle, and fires at down angles up to 15° from prepared defensive positions as well as targets in tall structures.
As alluded to above, the targeting sensor 210 includes a number of capabilities. Foremost among these capabilities in the illustrated embodiments is a laser range finding capability. The targeting sensor 210 is gimbaled using techniques well known to the art. More particularly, in the illustrated embodiment, the targeting sensor 210 is a MR EO/IR targeting sensor system developed by Raytheon. Note that this sensor is but one sensor that may be used in implementing the present invention. Its use is not necessary to the practice of the invention and that other suitable sensors may be used instead. The MR EO/IR is a forward looking infra-red (“FLIR”) sensor supplemented with visible cameras and a laser rangefinder. The targeting sensor 210 is gimbaled, with its internal gimbal (not shown) mounted directly to a fixed kingpost 208. The targeting sensor 210 is driven in azimuth by the motor 212 and in elevation by the motor 213.
The motors 206, 209 and 212, 213 may be implemented in any of a number of ways. For instance, various embodiments might employ conventional motors/gearbox arrangements for elevation/azimuth rotation; direct drive motors/brake for elevation and azimuth rotation; or direct drive or conventional azimuth, with ball screw actuators for elevation rotation. Direct drive motors and ball screw actuators offer minimal backlash designs for optimizing motion control and pointing accuracy, but tend to be large and heavy, especially when compared to traditional motors and integrated gearboxes. The azimuth drive and elevation drives for the gun system will be highly accurate. Thus, the conventional, lightweight motors/gearbox approach is used in the illustrated embodiment. But backlash from the gearbox may be too high for some embodiments such that direct drive and ball screw options might be used instead.
Still referring to
Additional factors that may be considered in some embodiments include shock environment, non-operational temperature, and vibration. Other considerations affecting pointing that are independent of the alignment sensor 215 and that may impact implementation are set forth in Table 3.
The implementation of the alignment sensor 215 in the illustrated embodiment focused on simplicity and compact size. A secondary consideration is that it have a path to increased sensitivity should that be desirable at some point in the future.
To address these factors, alignment sensor 215 if the illustrated embodiment is implemented in a quad-type detector 300, shown in
However, the invention is not limited to the type of detector represented by the quad-cell detector 300. The basic concept could be implemented with other devices, such as a charge-coupled device (“CCD”) self scanned array could be used to accomplish the basic alignment. Basically any detector that provides X-Y coordinate output could be used. If alignment is only needed in one axis, a linear array could be used. Also, the basic concept can be implemented in full analog, full digital, and a hybrid of the two (part digital, part analog). One particular implementation is a hybrid with an analog detector output that is digitized and processed digitally.
Detectors of this type are found to be available in 1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm diameters, with the 1 mm diameter having the correct electrical parameter for this application (high bandwidth for the laser pulse). The lens chosen for this detector is a 5 cm focal length, 2.54 cm diameter lens. The focal length chosen provides a 20 milliradian full width field of view and the aperture provides adequate sensitivity. In particular, the aperture should be wide enough to provide a field of view wide enough to be able to see the laser designation and encompass the errors associated with that task, but not so wide that it detects so much noise that one cannot pick out spot. This type of tradeoff is common in the art, and those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will readily be able to implement this aspect of the present invention.
Additional sensitivity can be obtained through minor modifications. For example, by increasing the size of the aperture to 5 cm the signal-to-noise ratio (“SNR”) can be improved by a factor of 4 which will allow operation in more degraded atmospheric (approximately 2 nautical miles) visibility at a modest increase in package size while still maintaining an angular accuracy of 0.095 milliradians. An increase in field of view to ensure the initial laser pulse falls on the detector can be obtained by using a shorter focal length lens, or if a reduced electrical bandwidth can be tolerated, a larger detector may instead be used.
Suitable quad detectors of the type disclosed are commercially available off the shelf. One such suitable detector is the Hamamatsu G6849-1 Imaging Sensor/Array InGaAs PIN photodiode. (See http://sales.hamamatsu.com/en/pro ducts/solid-state-division/ingaas-pin-photodiodes/image-sensor-array/productlist.php?&overview=13157900) Such detectors are available from Hamamatsu Photonics, K.K., headquartered in Hamamatsu City, Japan, through their sales representatives at 360 Foothill Rd, Bridgewater, N.J. 08807; Telephone: 908-231-0960; 908-231-1218. Additional information may be found on the World Wide Web of the Internet at <http://sales.hamamatsu.com/en/home.php>.
Note that multi-cell detectors such as the detector 300 are not necessary to the practice of the invention. The alignment sensor 215 may be implemented using other technologies in alternative embodiments. For example, a staring array, sometimes also called a charge-coupled device (“CCD”) imager or a focal plane array (“FPA”), could be used, but it becomes more difficult due to the short duration of the laser pulses that will be discussed further below. Still other technologies might find application, as well.
The illustrated embodiment also employs an optical bandpass filter 225. The bandpass filter 225 minimizes background noise on the detector 300, shown in
Finally, the weapon system 103 includes a controller 230.
The processor 505 may be implemented using any suitable processor known to the art. Some types of processors may be more preferable than others for given embodiments. For instance, a 64-bit processor is generally more powerful than an 8-bit processor, but will consume more power, and one may be more suitable than the other depending on power and processing requirements. Similarly, a digital signal processor (“DSP”) may be preferred over a general purpose processor in some embodiments with intensive signal processing. Some embodiments may even implement the processor 505 as a processor set, e.g., a microprocessor and a math co-processor. The implementation of the processor 505 will therefore be responsive to design constraints of a given embodiment.
The storage 510 is encoded with an operating system 514, an application 515, a data structure comprising targeting data 516, and a data structure comprising alignment data 517. The processor 505 operates under the programmed control of the application 515 within the context of the operating system 514. The operating system 514 may be any suitable operating system known to the art—e.g., UNIX or DOS. Similarly, the application 515 may be coded in any suitable program language known to the art. The data structures in which the targeting data 516 and alignment data 517 are stored may be any suitable type of data structure, such as a list, a linked list, a database, a stack, or a first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) queue.
Referring now to both
The application 515, shown in
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated or otherwise as may be apparent, throughout the present disclosure, these descriptions refer to the action and processes of an electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic, magnetic, or optical) quantities within some electronic device's storage into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the storage, or in transmission or display devices. Exemplary of the terms denoting such a description are, without limitation, the terms “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “displaying,” and the like.
Note also that the software implemented aspects of the invention are typically encoded on some form of program storage medium or implemented over some type of transmission medium. The program storage medium may be magnetic (e.g., a floppy disk or a hard drive) or optical (e.g., a compact disk read only memory, or “CD ROM”), and may be read only or random access. Similarly, the transmission medium may be twisted wire pairs, coaxial cable, optical fiber, or some other suitable transmission medium known to the art. The invention is not limited by these aspects of any given implementation.
Turning now to
The “initial estimate” is treated as “initial” because it likely contains a target location error. As those in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will appreciate, it is entirely possible that the initial estimate may be accurate, i.e., without target location error. All such targeting data received from off-board is nevertheless treated as an “initial estimate.” Also, in some embodiments, the target state can be expected to change over time. In these embodiments, the target state is tracked and projected such that estimated target position is updated over time. One such embodiment is discussed further below.
The controller 230 stores the initial estimate as the targeting data 516, shown in
More precisely, in the illustrated embodiment, the targeting sensor 210 includes a laser designator 615. The controller 230 points the laser designator 615 at the estimated target position. The laser designator 615 then fires a pulsed laser signal 618 at the target 600 to “spot” the target 600. The laser signal 618 is then reflected, and the alignment sensor 215 detects the reflection 621. Note that this means that the initial estimate puts the target 600 within the field of view for the alignment sensor 215. The field of view is a function of the detector employed by the alignment sensor 215, and so the detector's implementation can significantly impact the overall performance of the weapon system 103.
As noted above, the alignment sensor 215 employs, in this particular embodiment, a quad cell detector such as the detector 300 in
The center 803 of the active surface 303 represents a correct alignment between the weapon 203 and the targeting sensor 210. Thus, the position of the spot 800 in
Various embodiments may determine the commands to eliminate the offset 806 in different ways. For instance, corrections to the angles in azimuth and elevation can be calculated directly from the offset 806. Alternatively, the angle corrections can be stored in a look up table (not shown) indexed by the ALIGNMENT data. Other approaches may be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Any suitable technique may be employed.
Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, a boresighting sensor (i.e., the four quadrant detector) is affixed to the weapon that “finds” the MR EO/IR laser rangefinder spot on the target and allows misalignment to be corrected prior to firing the weapon. The quad cell detector is mounted co-boresighted to the gun in the same way a conventional gun sight is mounted. The quad cell is used to detect and track the laser range finder (“LRF”) spot during a target engagement and gives a measurement of azimuth and elevation error from gun boresight. The target range measurement from the MR EO/IR is mixed synchronously with angles from the quad cell to give an unambiguous target position measurement. The target position measurement is converted to local vertical North-East-Down (“NED”) coordinates and used to estimate target states using a Kalman filter.
The sequence of events 900 for a target engagement is shown in
Thus, instead of using target state information directly from the MR EO/IR sensor, the quad cell/gun is commanded to align along the line-of-sight to the target as estimated from MR EO/IR data. The quad cell then acquires the target and measurements of angles from the quad cell are used to make a second set of target state estimates. Alignment of the quad cell to the target is performed during target state development since the quad cell has a very narrow field-of-view (20 mrad full angle). After the Kalman filter using the quad cell data converges, a ballistic flyout algorithm is called and when the ballistic algorithm converges to a bullet-target intercept the gun super elevates, leads (if the target is moving) and fires. To give a good ballistic-target intercept solution, the quad cell detector and optics are accurately aligned to the gun (˜100 urad), and measurement jitter is sought to be mitigated.
Immediately prior to firing the weapon on a target, the range to target is determined through use of the MR EO/IR laser rangefinder by firing several laser pulses. The first pulse that results in a valid range falls somewhere on the alignment sensor 215's detector 300, resulting in an error signal. Refinement to the weapon pointing is then accomplished and subsequent laser pulses fall very near the center of the quad detector and are averaged for improved angular resolution, providing validation of the gun and sensor alignment. Simultaneously, the laser spot is imaged by the MR EO/IR short wave infrared (“SWIR”) sensor to ensure it is centered on the target, validating the laser pointing.
Once alignment is determined, the gun can be correctly pointed (lead if necessary and super elevation) to ensure that the bullets hit the target. This process depends on there being a degree of alignment that is maintained between the quad cell/gun to the MR EO/IR to accuracy of 8 milliradians or better. This degree of alignment should be maintainable through mechanical tolerances.
“Clear to fire” comes from a human operator.
Thus, mounting the quad cell detector on the gun (on the rail at the rear of the gun) makes physical bore sighting automatic and transparent to the user process performed in conjunction with rangefinding immediately prior to firing on a target, and provides additional safety measures for firing weapons from an unmanned vehicle. In an engagement, the MR EO/IR sensor would identify a potential target using visual cues, and bring the gun system in line to the target by rotating the weapons deck azimuth and gun elevation system. When MR EO/IR sensor lazes a target to get the range, the quad sensor would sense the illuminated spot within its field of view and determine any misalignment (the spot would be off center in the quad sensor field of view if misaligned) with the sensor. This misalignment would be automatically removed through the use of algorithms/Kalman filters before the gun system moves to lead the target (for moving targets) and super elevates to account for range to target. In a sense, the system would bore sight the alignment of the gun to the sensor prior to each time the gun fires.
A computer simulation was run to determine the sensitivity of the alignment sensor 215 of the above design to detect pulses in the environment given. The simulation established that the sensitivity is limited by the detector pre-amp noise, although it is sufficiently sensitive for detecting pulses in severe visibility conditions, specifically a 3 nautical miles visibility. However, the position sensing sensitivity is rather more dependent on SNR and is limited to 0.095 milliradians, more than the jitter expected due to atmospheric scintillation, but still meeting the sensor angular accuracy requirement of 0.1 milliradians.
The illustrated embodiment disclosed above employs a laser rangefinder, but alternative embodiments may use other kinds of radiation. For instance, embodiments employing the quad detector 300 of
One advantage of the laser rangefinder is that it yields three-dimensional (“3D”) data, i.e., azimuth, elevation, and range. The offset between the estimated target state and the actual target state may therefore also include offset in range in some embodiments. However, this is an implementation specific detail for this particular embodiment. One significant use for the present invention is azimuth and elevation error correction, which can be performed with two-dimensional (“2D”) data, and some embodiments may employ 2D data to the exclusion of 3D data. The 3D data additionally helps the fire solution and resolves some safety issues, but is not necessary in all embodiments.
The illustrated embodiment is also what may be called an “active” system in that the detected radiation is generated and transmitted from the same system of which the detector is a part. However, in some embodiments, the invention may be “semi-active”, e.g., the radiation may originate from a third party laser designator remote from the detector. However, for very short duration pulses, it may be necessary to have some information about the timing of the pulse in order to detect it above the background noise level. If there is a common communication path to coordinate time or both parties have access to a time base such as GPS, then a pulsed laser could be used. This information could be sent automatically over a network referring to a common Global Positioning System (“GPS”)-based timebase. The time of the origination would be known to both parties and each could measure the pulse receipt. With that and certain other coordinate knowledge in common, a correction could be computed to rationalize the two coordinate systems to each other. Some alternative embodiments may even be totally “passive,” e.g., the detected radiation is not introduced into the environment for purposes of detection, if there is some way to correlate that both systems are imaging the same target or point on a target.
The invention may also be extrapolated to alternative fire control system architectures. Consider, for instance,
These kinds of scenarios may be referred to as “cooperative firing contexts” because of the level of cooperation among the parts of the weapons system. In either of these scenarios, the fire control technique described above can be extrapolated across multiple weapons in a variety of ways.
The present invention may find application on platforms other than those presented and may be retrofitted onto some existing platforms. One such platform is the AH-64 Apache helicopter 1200 currently deployed by the United States Armed Forces, shown in
This concludes the detailed description. The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.
This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/675,419 (“the '419 application”), entitled “Continuous Alignment System for Fire Control”, filed Feb. 15, 2007 now abandoned, in the name of the inventors Michael R. Willingham and Robert J. McCarty, Jr. The '419 application claimed the earlier effective filing date of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/773,531 (“the '531 application”), entitled “CONTINUOUS ALIGNMENT SYSTEM FOR FIRE CONTROL” filed Feb. 15, 2006, in the name of the inventors Michael R. Willingham and Robert J. McCarty, Jr. The earlier effective filing dates of the '419 and '531 applications are hereby claimed for all common subject matter. The '419 and '531 applications are also hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes as if expressly set forth verbatim herein.
The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in this invention and the right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of contract 3G19ADFJ-1D01 awarded by the Department of Defense.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4760397 | Piccolruaz | Jul 1988 | A |
| 4783744 | Yueh | Nov 1988 | A |
| 4787291 | Frohock, Jr. | Nov 1988 | A |
| 5214433 | Alouani et al. | May 1993 | A |
| 5431084 | Fowler et al. | Jul 1995 | A |
| 5483865 | Brunand | Jan 1996 | A |
| 6038955 | Thiesen et al. | Mar 2000 | A |
| 6043867 | Saban | Mar 2000 | A |
| 6532433 | Bharadwaj et al. | Mar 2003 | B2 |
| 7266042 | Gent et al. | Sep 2007 | B1 |
| 7626538 | Rose | Dec 2009 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60773531 | Feb 2006 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11675419 | Feb 2007 | US |
| Child | 11828815 | US |
