Patent Application
20210239442
The following disclosure relates generally to fuze setters and in particular to direct contact fuze setters.
Artillery fuzes are typically attached to a leading end of an artillery projectile prior to launch from a gun platform. Next generation artillery fuzes provide guidance capability that may correct for firing errors and steer the projectile to a desired target impact point. The artillery projectile with attached fuze may be loaded into the gun either manually or through use of an automatic loader (autoloader) mechanism.
Fuze setting is the process of quickly programming targeting and other data into artillery fuzes such as those with precision guidance capability. Fuze setting has to occur prior to launch and is typically accomplished by engaging the fuze with a fuze setter. The fuze setter may be part of an autoloader system used to automatically load artillery projectiles into a gun platform while minimizing the need for operator intervention.
In direct connect fuze setters, the fuze setter typically utilizes an electrical interface with a direct electrical connection between a connector on the fuze and a mating connector on the fuze setter. The fuze is attached to the end of the projectile and the fuze setter is attached to the fuze to permit fuze setting. When the fuze setter is attached to the fuze, the fuze setter connector may generally be misaligned to the fuze. The fuze setter electrical interface may be part of an autoloader, or it may be part of stand-alone fuze setting equipment when an autoloader is not used. Initially, the fuze electrical contacts may be misaligned to the corresponding contacts on the fuze setter. This rotational misalignment may create difficulties during fuze setting since the fuze connector must be rotationally aligned to the mating fuze setter connector in order to establish an electrical connection.
To overcome this rotational misalignment problem, an autoloader may need to incorporate a rotational alignment capability. This adds complexity into the design and operation of autoloaders that incorporate fuze setting capability. The added complexity may decrease the reliability of the autoloader and may also increase the cost of the device. Additionally, the need to rotationally align the fuze connector to the fuze setter connector may increase the overall timeline required for fuze setting because the time required for alignment must be added. This increase in the overall timeline due to rotational alignment problems may result in a reduction of the maximum rate of fire of the gun platform.
There is therefore a need in the art for some way to ensure that the electrical connector on a fuze is able to mate to an electrical connector on a fuze setter without physically rotating the fuze or projectile relative to the fuze setter. The apparatus and method disclosed herein are directed to implementing a mechanical and electrical interface between a fuze and a fuze setter that does not require physical rotational alignment of the fuze to the fuze setter.
The present disclosure relates to a system for programming a fuze on an artillery projectile utilizing a fuze setter. There are two interfaces between the fuze and fuze setter to accomplish programming. The first interface is a mechanical interface and the second interface is an electrical interface. In the mechanical interface, a radome on the fuze is received in a port of the fuze setter. The radome is a housing that forms the tip of the fuze and is used to cover and protect components within the fuze while having an exterior form factor of a suitable aerodynamic shape. The radome housing may be transparent to radar emissions from a Height of Burst (HoB) sensor that may be located within the fuze and covered by the radome housing.
In one example, a fuze setter station (also known as a fuze setter cup) is mounted on an articulated mechanism such as a swing arm that may be provided on an autoloader. The swing arm swings into a position where the cup fits over at least a portion of the radome housing. Once programming has occurred, the swing arm moves the cup away from the radome housing. In this arrangement, the cup of the fuze setter tightly couples to the radome housing when in place. In another example, a programming block is moved toward a sidewall of the radome housing to bring electrical contacts, such as electrical contact pins, into engagement with electrical contact pads on the radome housing. The electrical contacts, such as the electrical contact pins, may be suitable for transfer of electrical power and/or communication of electrical signals from the fuze setter to the fuze.
In one example, in the electrical interface between fuze setter and fuze there are eight electrical signals required, namely, two loopback resistor signals, two power/ground signals, two Time Mark Indicator (TMI) signals, and two communications signals. The loopback resistor signals are utilized to detect a resistor within the fuze and the loopback resistor signals may therefore be used by a fuze setter to determine if it is connected to a fuze. The loopback resistor signals are also used to help determine rotational orientation of the fuze. The power/ground signals include one contact for input power and one for ground return current. The TMI signals provide Ground Positioning Satellite (GPS) time mark indication to the fuze. The two interface signals are a half-duplex serial communication interface. Half-duplex communication means that only one of the fuze and the fuze setter sends data at a time while the other of the fuze and the fuze setter listens. Half duplex is consistent with the messaging protocol between fuze setter and fuze and may require a reduced electrical contact pin count. In one example, data rates of 10 Mbit/sec are supported by system of the present disclosure.
In one example, in the electrical interface between fuze setter and fuze there are additional interface signals that are utilized to implement full-duplex communications, allowing simultaneous, bi-directional communication between the fuze setter and the fuze. In one example there are ten electrical signals, namely, two loopback resistor signals, two power/ground signals, two TMI signals, and four communications signals. The four communications signals enable the full-duplex serial communication between fuze and fuze setter. In other words, the fuze and the fuze setter can send data and listen at substantially the same time.
The TMI electrical contact pads are used for GPS time synchronization. If the fuze does not need to synchronize to the GPS clock, these TMI electrical contact pads can either be removed or used for some other purpose.
As indicated above, in order to form the electrical interface between the fuze and fuze setter, the electrical contact pads on the fuze make electrical contact with electrical contact pins on the fuze setter. In one example there may be eight electrical contact pads and in another example there may be ten electrical contact pads provided on the radome housing. It will be understood that any desired number of electrical contact pads may be utilized. The references herein to eight electrical contact pads or ten electrical contact pads are by way of example only and shouldn't be considered to be unnecessarily narrowing or limiting the number of electrical contact pads that are used on the fuze. In some examples, the electrical contact pads are located on a sidewall of the radome housing. In other examples, the electrical contact pads are located on the flat front end of the radome housing, i.e., on the nose end of the fuze. In other examples, some electrical contact pads may be located on the sidewall and others may be positioned on the front end of the radome. Regardless of the number and/or placement of the electrical contact pads, the electrical contact pads are arranged so as to be rotationally symmetrical. In other words, no matter the physical orientation in which the fuze is located relative to the fuze setter, an electrical interface is formed and communication is able to occur between the electrical contact pads on the fuze and the electrical contact pins on the fuze setter. Furthermore, the electrical contact pads may be of any desired shape and may be arranged as circular rings, segmented rings, or as discrete spaced-apart pads.
Depending on the placement and configuration of the electrical contact pads on the radome housing, the mechanical interface with the fuze setter may be formed by a nose approach, a side approach, or a clamshell approach of the fuze setter on the fuze. In a nose approach, the front end of the fuze is moved into a port of the fuze setter or a fuze setter cup is moved into place over the front end of the radome housing. In a side approach, a programming block may be moved into engagement with electrical contact pads on a sidewall of the radome housing. In a clamshell approach, two or more opposed programming blocks may be moved inwardly and receive a portion of the fuze between them. These different approaches have pros and cons, that will be described later herein.
With respect to forming the electrical interface between fuze setter and fuze, there are two approaches disclosed herein that may accomplish the formation of the electrical interface without the need to rotationally orient the fuze radome housing relative to the fuze setter. The first approach is commutation and the second approach is direct contact.
In the commutation approach, each electrical contact pad on the fuze is assigned to a specific signal. Each electrical contact pad engages a corresponding electrical contact pin on the fuze setter that is unassigned to a signal. Using a scanning technique to identify the rotational orientation between the fuze and the fuze setter, a switching/commutation technique is then used to dynamically assign signals to the fuze setter electrical contact pins. The fuze setter interrogates pairs of electrical contact pins engaged with electrical contact pads on the radome housing to locate a loopback resistor. Locating the loopback resistor aids in identifying the fuze rotational orientation. Electrical commutation is performed by the fuze setter to reassign signals on the fuze setter electrical contact pins to match the determined fuze rotational orientation.
In the direct contact approach, each electrical contact pad or contact band on the fuze radome housing is assigned a specific signal, one pad, or band being required per signal. Segmented rings or bands on the fuze radome housing may be utilized to reduce inductive/antenna effects and these require one electrical contact per segment. Each electrical contact pad or band on the radome housing engages a corresponding fuze setter electrical contact pin dedicated to a specific signal. There is a direct 1-for-1 electrical connection between the fuze contact bands and the corresponding fuze setter electrical contact pins.
The present disclosure provides rotationally symmetric electrical contact pads on the exterior surface of a radome housing that can be engaged by electrical contacts on the fuze setter. Since the initial rotational orientation of the fuze is unknown, any electrical contact on the fuze setter can engage any electrical contact pad on the fuze. Thus, a means of ensuring that each electrical contact on the fuze setter side correctly engages the corresponding electrical contact on the fuze side of the interface is required.
One approach described in the present disclosure is to utilize electrical commutation, whereby signals are dynamically assigned to the physical electrical contacts, in effect rotating the signals instead of the fuze. The fuze setter electrically interrogates the fuze contacts prior to this assignment to determine the rotational orientation, based on a known electrical impedance between two of the electrical contact pads. Once the orientation is known, the signals can be properly assigned. In addition, it may occur that an electrical contact on the fuze setter side falls on the edge of an electrical contact pad on the fuze side of the interface. A means to detect and resolve this situation, using a separate pair of edge detect contacts is also described in the present disclosure.
Generally, commutation functions will occur in the fuze setter, i.e., the signals in the fuze setter assigned to particular pins in the fuze setter, after the rotational orientation between the fuze setter and fuze contacts has been determined. It will be understood, however, that in principle, nothing prevents the roles between fuze and fuze setter with respect to performing commutation from being reversed. Owing to implementation complexity, there are, however, some benefits to the fuze setter performing the commutation functions.
A second approach is to use circularly symmetric electrical contact bands surrounding the fuze, such that each band corresponds to an individual signal. Electrical contact, i.e., electrical contact pins on the fuze setter side are mechanically aligned to the bands such that each pin directly contacts its corresponding band directly, making direct electrical contact.
In one aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a system, comprising a fuze adapted to be engaged with a projectile body; a fuze setter configured to engage with the fuze; a plurality of first electrical contacts provided on an exterior surface of the fuze; and a plurality of second contacts provided on the fuze setter, and when the fuze and fuze setter are engaged, the plurality of first electrical contacts and the plurality of second electrical contacts form an electric interface adapted to transfer one or both of power and data from the fuze setter to the fuze. Electrical power is transferred from the fuze setter to the fuze. Data may be transferred in either direction, from the fuze setter to the fuze, or vice versa.
In another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a system comprising a projectile including a fuze having a radome housing at a leading end; a fuze setter configured to engage the radome housing; a plurality of electrical contact pads on the radome housing, wherein the plurality of electrical contact pads are in electrical communication with a system of electronics internal to the fuze; a plurality of electrical contact pins provided on the fuze setter, wherein the plurality of electrical contact pins are positioned to engage the plurality of electrical contact pads when the fuze setter engages the radome housing; and a loopback resistor integrated with a pair of the electrical contact pads.
In yet another aspect, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a method of transferring one or both of power and data from a fuze setter to a fuze, comprising bracketing a selected electrical contact pin of a plurality of electrical contact pins on a fuze setter with a pair of edge detect contacts; interrogating the pair of edge detect contacts; determining whether the selected electrical contact pin is in contact with an edge of an electrical contact pad of a plurality of electrical contact pads provided on a fuze; interrogating adjacent electrical contact pins of the plurality of electrical contact pins; locating a loopback resistor connected to two electrical contact pads of the plurality of electrical contact pads; determining a location of each of the plurality of electrical contact pads based on the location of the loopback resistor; performing electrical commutation to rotate electrical contact pin assignments on the fuze setter to match the locations of the plurality of electrical contact pads on the fuze; and assigning a signal to each of the plurality of electrical contact pins. In one example, the method includes rotating the plurality of electrical contact pins through a half pitch of one of the plurality of electrical contact pads after the interrogating of the edge detect contacts. In one example, the method includes programming the fuze after the assigning of the signal to each of the plurality of electrical contact pins.
An example embodiment of the present disclosure provides a system that may include a fuze attached to an end of a projectile body and a fuze setter configured to engage with the fuze. The system may include a plurality of electrical contact pads on the fuze, particularly on the radome housing thereof, and a plurality of electrical contacts, such as electrical contact pins (or electrical contact pins) located on the fuze setter, where the plurality of electrical contact pins corresponds to the plurality of electrical contact pads.
Particular implementations may include one or more of the following features. There may be a loopback resistor integrated with the electrical contact pads, where the loopback resistor is situated between two electrical contact pads. The loopback resistor may be used by the fuze setter as a means to determine that the fuze setter is electrically connected to the fuze. This is accomplished by sensing the electrical resistance between the corresponding contacts in the fuze across which the loopback resistor is connected. In one embodiment the present loopback resistor is used as a means to determine the rotational orientation of the fuze relative to the fuze setter.
There may be a band of the plurality of electrical contact pads situated on a nose of the fuze housing. The spring electrical contact pins may be radially situated on the fuze setter. There may be a plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads located on a side of the fuze housing. The plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads may be segmented. The spring electrical contact pins may be axially aligned on a programming block of the fuze setter, thereby allowing the spring electrical contact pins to engage with the plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads. The fuze setter may have at least two contact interfaces, where the at least two contact interfaces are configured to engage with the electrical contact pads of the fuze. The plurality of electrical contact pads may be configured to be removed by aerodynamic heating or by aerodynamic wind forces. The fuze housing may further comprise an external surface capable of being metallized, thereby allowing the external surface to have the plurality of electrical contact pads. The plurality of electrical contact pads may be configured to be in electrical communication with a system of electronics internal to the fuze.
Another example embodiment provides a system that may include a fuze attached to an end of a projectile body, and a fuze setter configured to engage with the fuze. There may be a fuze housing situated on an end of the fuze, further comprising a plurality of electrical contact pads on the fuze housing, wherein the plurality of electrical contact pads are configured to be in electrical communication with a system of electronics internal to the fuze. There may be a plurality of electrical contact pins situated on the fuze setter, where the plurality of electrical contact pins correspond to the plurality of electrical contact pads. There may be a loopback resistor integrated with the electrical contact pads, where the loopback resistor is situated between two electrical contact pads.
Particular implementations may include one or more of the following features. There may be a band of the plurality of electrical contact pads situated on a nose of the fuze housing. The spring electrical contact pins may be radially situated on the fuze setter. There may be a plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads located on a size of the fuze housing. The plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads may be segmented. The spring electrical contact pins may be axially aligned on a programming block of the fuze setter, thereby allowing the spring electrical contact pins to engage with the plurality of bands of the electrical contact pads. The fuze setter may have at least two contact interfaces, where the at least two contact interfaces are configured to engage with the electrical contact pads of the fuze. The plurality of electrical contact pads may be configured to be removed by aerodynamic heating or by aerodynamic wind forces. The fuze housing may further comprise an external surface capable of being metallized, thereby allowing the external surface to have the plurality of electrical contact pads.
Another example embodiment provides a method including interrogating a plurality of edge detect contacts to determine whether a first electrical contact pin or a second electrical contact pin of a pair group might be contacting an electrical contact pad edge; interrogating a plurality of pair groups; locating a loopback resistor, thereby identifying a location of the plurality of pair groups; identifying locations of other contacts; performing electrical commutation to rotate electrical contact pin assignments on a fuze setter interface; matching a rotational orientation of a fuze electrical contact pad; and assigning a signal to each of the electrical contact pins.
Implementations of the techniques discussed above may include a method or process, a system or apparatus, a kit, or a computer software stored on a computer-accessible medium. The details or one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and form the claims.
The features and advantages described herein are not all-inclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been selected principally for readability and instructional purposes and not to limit the scope of the inventive subject matter.
Sample embodiments of the present disclosure are set forth in the following description, are shown in the drawings and are particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.
These and other features of the present embodiments will be understood better by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the figures herein described. The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing.
This disclosure relates to a system for a fuze setter for autoloader compatibility, particularly rotationally symmetric physical electrical contacts on the fuze that can be engaged by the fuze setter connector. The system may have a fuze setter and a fuze. The fuze setter and fuze may have electrical contacts. The fuze setter may electrically interrogate the fuze electrical contacts to determine the rotational orientation. Once the orientation is determined, the signals may be assigned to the electrical contacts. This disclosure relates to a method for electrically interrogating the fuze electrical contacts to determine the rotational orientation of the fuze.
Preparation for launch of an artillery projectile includes programming data into an artillery fuze with precision guidance capability such that the programming process is compatible with both manually performed and autoloader operations and associated equipment. The programming of the data into an artillery fuze must be done quickly to maintain a maximum rate of fire for the gun platform to which an autoloader may be affixed. The fuze is attached to the tip of the projectile body and typically positioned in the autoloader in an arbitrary rotational orientation. This leads to rotationally misaligning the location of the electrical contact pads on the fuze to mating electrical contacts on the fuze setter side of the interface on the autoloader. This condition may be exacerbated in some applications whereby the fuze itself may be rotationally decoupled from the projectile body, allowing it to spin freely relative to the projectile. In other applications, the fuze is hard mounted to the projectile body so that it does not rotate independently. However, the entire projectile and fuze assembly may be positioned in the autoloader such that it is rotationally misaligned to the fuze setter connector on the autoloader.
This rotational misalignment creates a difficulty during fuze setting since an external connector located on the exterior of the fuze must be rotationally aligned to the mating connector on the fuze setter in order to make the necessary electrical connections prior to initiating the fuze setting process. This need for rotational alignment adds complexity into the design and operation of an autoloader that incorporates fuze setting capability in that either manual intervention, or a rotation mechanism incorporated into the autoloader may be necessary to perform this rotational orientation. This complexity can decrease the reliability and increase the cost of the autoloader. Additionally, the cycle time required for rotational alignment and fuze programming must be included in the overall timeline for fuze setting prior to launch. The increase in time necessary to rotationally orient the fuze can increase the overall time required to prepare and program the fuze prior to launch. This increased time can degrade the maximum rate of fire of the gun platform and impacts operational effectiveness. The present inventors have recognized there is a need for direct electrical connections between the fuze setter and the fuze that do not require rotational alignment of the fuze.
Thus, and in accordance with embodiments, techniques and architecture are disclosed herein for a system for a fuze setter for autoloader compatibility. The system may comprise rotationally symmetric physical electrical contacts on the fuze that can be engaged by the fuze setter connector.
Referring to
Guided projectile 10 is placed on the feed tray of autoloader 14 and the feed tray is configured to move a leading end of fuze 18 into port 16b of fuze setter station 16. As will be described later herein, when the leading end of fuze 18 is engaged in port 16b, an electrical interface is established between electrical contact pads on fuze 18 and mating electrical contacts on fuze setter 12 and fuze 18. This electrical interface enables electrical power and/or data to be transferred from fuze setter 12 to fuze 18. The data may include information related to projectile guidance, navigation, fuze operational mode, etc. to be communicated to the fuze. The fuze can also report status and other information back to the fuze setter, during the fuze setting process.
Referring to
As shown in
First end 24b of fuze body 24 may be operatively engaged with rear end 22c of radome housing 22 or be integrally formed therewith. Extension 24d of fuze body 24 may be coupled to coupling region 20e of projectile body 20. A space 26 (
Referring still to
Referring still to
At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 34, and at least one processor or microprocessor 36 may be housed within cavity 24e of fuze body 24. The storage medium 34 may include instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor or microprocessor 36, implements various functions and operations to aid in guidance, navigation and control of guided projectile 10. A battery 38 and a capacitor 40 may be located within interior cavity 24e. Battery 38 may be operatively engaged with any of the aforementioned components that require power to operate.
It will be understood that the placement of the various components within fuze 18 may be different from what is illustrated herein. In some examples, some of the above-mentioned components may be omitted from guided projectile 10. In other examples, additional components may be included in guided projectile 10. Some or all of the components may be operatively engaged with each other via wiring. Only some wiring has been illustrated in
In accordance with the present disclosure, fuze 18 includes a first embodiment of an electric contact configuration and fuze setter 12 includes a complementary electric contact configuration. The first embodiment electric contact configurations of fuze 18 and fuze setter 12 form a first embodiment electrical interface between fuze 18 and fuze setter 12. The electrical interface enables power and/or data to be transferred from fuze setter 12 to fuze 18 during a fuze setting operation.
The location of electrical contact pads 42 on sidewall 22a as illustrated in
Electrical contact pads 42 may be applied to sidewall 22a of radome housing 22 in any suitable manner. One suitable manner may be through contact metallization. In one example, electrical contact pads 42 may be bonded to the exterior surface of sidewall 22a using an adhesive. In one example, a recess is defined in the exterior surface of sidewall 22a for each electrical contact pad 42 and an associated electrical contact pad is placed into each recess. In one example, an outermost surface of the electrical contact pad 42 within a recess is substantially flush with the exterior surface of the sidewall 22a. In one example, an outermost surface of the electrical contact pad 42 within a recess is located a short distance outwardly beyond the exterior surface of the sidewall 22a. In one example, an outermost surface of the electrical contact pad 42 within a recess is located a short distance inwardly from the exterior surface of the sidewall 22a.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, electrical contact pads 42 are arranged in a rotationally symmetric pattern. This rotationally symmetric pattern aids in accommodating an unknown rotational orientation of fuze 18 when the fuze is engaged by fuze setter 12. Providing electrical contact pads 42 in a rotationally symmetric pattern also helps to avoid the need to physically rotationally orient the fuze 18 prior to engagement with the fuze setter 12.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, fuze setter station 16 includes a plurality of second electrical contacts that engage with the plurality of first electrical contacts in the fuze 18 to form an electrical interface. The second electric contact 48 are arranged in a pattern complementary to the pattern of electrical contact pads 42 on fuze 18. Electrical contacts 48 are arranged an annular ring that circumscribes an interior surface of sidewall 16c that bounds port 16b. Contacts 48 are spaced circumferentially from each other around the circumference of sidewall 16c. In one example, the contacts 48 are spaced at regular intervals around the circumference of sidewall 16c. In one example, adjacent contacts 48 are separated from each other by a space 50 (
Electrical contacts 48 may be of any construction that will establish an electrical connection with electrical contact pads 42. In one example, the electrical contacts 48 on fuze setter station 16 may be spring contacts such as axially aligned electrical contact pins 48 (e.g. a pogo electrical contact pin) or any other configuration of spring contact that provides mechanical compliance and wiping action. The electrical contact pins 48 may be used for either for transfer of electrical power or signals. It will be understood that the electrical contacts 48 on fuze setter station 16 are not limited to electrical contact pins but may be of any other desired construction. The electrical contacts 48 will be referred to hereafter as electrical contact pins 48 and should be understood to be capable of transferring power or data to electrical contact pads 42.
Electrical contact pins 48 are arranged in a pattern substantially identical to the pattern of electrical contact pads 42 on fuze 18.
The placement of electrical contact pins 48 on sidewall 16c is such that when radome housing 22 is received in port 16b, electrical contact pins 48, and electrical contact pads 42 will come sufficiently into alignment and contact with each other that an electrical interface is formed between them. Each electrical contact pad 42 engages a corresponding electrical contact pin 48 on fuze setter 12 that is unassigned to a signal. In one example, power will be transferred from fuze setter 12 to fuze 18 via the interface formed between electrical contact pins 48 and electrical contact pads 42. In one example, data will be transferred or shared between fuze setter 12 and fuze 18 via the interface formed between electrical contact pins 48 and electrical contact pads 42. In one example, data will be bi-directionally shared between fuze setter 12 and fuze 18 via this interface.
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, the placement of electrical contact pads 42 relative to the placement of electrical contact pins 48 and thereby the development of the electrical interface is such that no matter the rotational orientation of fuze 18 relative to projectile body 20 (and to fuze setter station 16), power and/or data is able to be transferred across the interface. The first embodiment configuration of electrical contact pads 42 and electrical contact pins 48 negates the need for a specific physical orientation of the fuze 18 to be adopted relative to the fuze setter 12 before power/and or data can be transferred between fuze setter 12 and fuze 18. When fuze 18 is placed on autoloader 14 and is engaged by fuze setter station 16, the fuze rotational position is initially undefined relative to fuze setter station 16. Later in this disclosure a method of determining the rotational orientation of the fuze 18 will be described.
In one example, feedthroughs on each of electrical contact pads 42 can be used to bring electrical signals through to the interior 16d (
It will be understood that the system disclosed herein is able to use fuze setting for other purposes. For example, the system may be used for periodic monitoring of the fuze while the fuze is in storage, and/or reprogramming the fuze operating software in a more efficient manner. The fuze is typically not attached to the projectile while in storage inventory. Instead, the fuzes are usually kept separate and only assembled to the projectile body just prior to launch. A single fuze or multiple fuzes (typically 4 to 6) may be stored in a single, environmentally sealed storage container. Because fuzes can be in storage for many years, it may be necessary to periodically turn a fuze on to verify that it is still fully functional, or to reprogram the fuze's operating software with an update. In the prior art, this may have necessitated removing each fuze from the storage container to gain access to its communications and power ports. Because the presently disclosed interface is located on the radome housing, (i.e., the nose of the fuze), the interface may be directly accessible while the fuze is still in its storage container once the storage container lid has been opened. This allows each fuze to be connected to the fuze setter (or other maintenance or test equipment which may utilize the same fuze setter interface) and operated in-situ, thereby avoiding the need to remove each fuze from its storage container. This reduces the overall time it takes to program a fuze (or a large inventory of fuzes) and minimizes handling of the fuze, reducing the potential for damage.
The system may also be used as a general communications interface for purposes including status query. Additionally, the interface formed between fuze 18 and fuze setter 12 may be used for checking fuze configuration, including part number, serial number and revision. The interface may further be used to initiate built-in testing and other diagnostic tests of fuze 18, and may have fuze 18 report back the results of the test. In other examples, the disclosed interface may also be utilized to test equipment used to support various diagnostic, maintenance and upgrade and repair functions. The test equipment could incorporate an interface akin to what is used on the fuze 18 and fuze setter 12.
Fuze 18 and fuze setter station 16 may be brought into contact with each other in a number of different ways. In one example, shown in
It will be understood that a fuze setter that is to engage fuze 18′ will be provided with a sufficient number of electrical contacts (e.g. electrical contact pins) to engage electrical contact pads 42′. In one example, the fuze setter that is to engage fuze 18′ will have twenty electrical contact pins 48 that are arranged in a complementary location and configuration to engage electrical contact pads 42′. In other examples, the fuze setter that is to engage fuze 18′ may have fewer or more than twenty electrical contact pins 48 to engage electrical contact pads 42′. Whatever the number of electrical contact pins 48 on the fuze setter, the electrical contact pins 48 will be arranged to be complementary to the electrical contact pads 42′ and configured to communicate therewith.
The electrical contact pads 42′ on fuze 18′ comprise two loopback resistor contacts, two power/ground contacts, two TMI contacts and four contacts for communications. The loopback resistor contacts are provided so that the complementary fuze setter will be able to sense the loopback resistor within fuze 18′ which is electrically connected between the two loopback resistor contacts, and therefore will be able to determine if the fuze setter is connected to fuze 18′. The power/ground contacts include one contact each for input power and ground return current. The two TMI contacts provide GPS time mark indication to fuze 18′. The four communications contacts enable full duplex serial communications between fuze 18′ and a complementary fuze setter. (Fuze 18 shown in
In one example, less than eight electrical contact pads 42 may be provided on the fuze 18. In one example, more than eight electrical contact pads 42 may be provided on the fuze 18. Whatever the number of electrical contact pads 42 provided on the fuze 18, the mating fuze setter 16 will include a complementary number of electrical contacts 48. It will be understood that all electrical contact pads 42 on the fuze 18 and mating electrical contacts 48 on the fuze setter 16 will be sized appropriately.
The provision of electrical contact pads 42 on sidewall 22a is suitable for a signal commutation (or electrical commutation) option for orienting the fuze 18 relative to the fuze setter 12 by rotating the signals from the fuze setter 12 instead of physically rotating the fuze 18. Commutation will be described in detail later herein.
It will be understood that a wide variety of other electrical contact pad/electrical contact pin configurations may be utilized on radome housing 22 and fuze setting station 16, 16A, since the entire radome housing exterior surface area is accessible when utilizing a nose-first approach, i.e. engaging the radome housing 22 in port 16b of fuze setting station 16. A number of other configurations will be described later herein.
Referring to
Fuze 118 includes a radome housing 122 and fuze setter 112 includes a fuze setter station 116. Radome housing 122 extends forwardly from fuze body 124 and includes a sidewall 122a and a front end 122b. A circumferential edge 122c is provided where sidewall 122a and front end 122b intersect. A plurality of electrical contact pads 142 is provided on an exterior surface of front end 122b of radome housing 122. Although not illustrated herein, it will be understood that feedthroughs extend from each electrical contact pad 142 to the electronics within fuze 118. It will be understood that electrical contact pads 142 are substantially identical in all aspects of structure and function to electrical contact pads 42 except that their placement and shape may differ therefrom.
Placing electrical contact pads 142 on front end 122b of radome housing 22 may obscure a HoB sensor radar transmitter provided in radome housing 122. However, this potential obscuration of a HoB sensor is at least somewhat offset by front end 122b being an aerodynamic stagnation point on the projectile. Additionally, front end 122b of radome housing 122 tends to have the highest aerodynamic heating temperature and this potentially will cause electrical contact pads 142 to melt off radome housing 122 during flight of the guided projectile. The melting of the electrical contact pads 142 will remove the obscuring effect on the HoB sensor. In order to help ensure the electrical contact pads 142 are removed during flight, it is possible to utilize a low melting point alloy for electrical contact pads 142 or utilize low temperature adhesives to bond electrical contact pad 142 to radome housing 122. Aerodynamic wind forces can also help to remove the electrical contact pads 142 during flight, possibly in conjunction with the effects of aerodynamic heating on the electrical contact pads 142.
The provision of the discrete electrical contact pads 142 is suitable for a signal commutation (or electrical commutation) option of orienting the fuze 118 relative to the fuze setter station 116 by rotating the signals from the fuze setter station 116 instead of physically rotating the fuze 118.
It will be understood that a fuze setter that is to engage fuze 118′ will be provided with a sufficient number of electrical contacts (e.g. electrical contact pins) to engage electrical contact pads 142′. In one example, the fuze setter that is to engage fuze 118′ will have twenty electrical contact pins 148 that are arranged in a complementary location and configuration to engage electrical contact pads 142′. In other examples, the fuze setter that is to engage fuze 118′ may have fewer or more than twenty electrical contact pins 148 to engage electrical contact pads 142′. Whatever the number of electrical contact pins 148 on the fuze setter, the electrical contact pins 148 will be arranged to be complementary to the electrical contact pads 142′ and be configured to communicate therewith.
The electrical contact pads 142′ on fuze 18′ comprise two electrical contacts for a loopback resistor, two power/ground contacts, two TMI contacts and four contacts for communications. (Fuze 18′ includes only one loopback resistor. Signals from the two electrical leads or contacts from the loopback resistor are assigned to two of the electrical contact pads in the fuze.) The loopback resistor contacts are provided so that the complementary fuze setter will be able to sense the loopback resistor within fuze 118′ which is electrically connected between the two loopback resistor contacts, and therefore will be able to determine if the fuze setter is connected to fuze 118′. The power/ground contacts include one contact each for input power and ground return current. The two TMI contacts provide GPS time mark indication to fuze 118′. The four communications contacts enable full duplex serial communications between fuze 118′ and a complementary fuze setter. (Fuze 118 shown in
In one example, less than eight electrical contact pads 142 may be provided on the fuze 118. In one example, more than eight electrical contact pads 142 may be provided on the fuze 118. Whatever the number of electrical contact pads 142 provided on the fuze 118, the mating fuze setter will include a complementary number of electrical contact pins 148. It will be understood that all electrical contact pads 142 on the fuze 118 and mating electrical contact pins 148 on the fuze setter 116 will be sized appropriately.
Referring to
Radome housing 222 includes a sidewall 222a and a front end 222b. A plurality of electrical contact pads 242 is provided on sidewall 222a. Electrical contact pads 242 are substantially identical in structure and function to electrical contact pads 42, 142 except that the shape and placement of electrical contact pads 242 differs from the shape and placement of electrical contact pads 42 and 142.
Each electrical contact pad 242 comprises a circular ring or band that extends circumferentially around the exterior surface of sidewall 222a. Because each electrical contact pad 242 is circular, the pad is rotationally symmetric. The circular bands or rings are concentric and are longitudinally spaced from each other. Because sidewall 222a tapers toward front end 222b, the electrical contact pad 242a closest to front end 222b is of the smallest diameter while the electrical contact pad 242b that is closest to fuze body 224 is of the greatest diameter. The electrical contact pads 242 between electrical contact pad 242a and 242b progressively increase in diameter. In one example, electrical contact pads 242 are spaced at regular intervals from each other along sidewall 222a. In one example, adjacent electrical contact pads 242 are separated from each other by a circumferential space 246 or a circumferential section of sidewall 222a.
In one example, a plurality of spaced-apart concentric grooves may be defined in sidewall 222a of radome housing 222. A complementary circular electrical contact pad 242 may be received in each groove. In one example, the outer surface of the electrical contact pad 242 may be slightly recessed relative to a remaining portion of sidewall 222a of radome housing 222. In one example, eight grooves and complementary electrical contact pads 242 may be provided on radome housing 222. Each electrical contact pad 242 may be about 0.08 inches wide by about 0.03 inches thick. A dielectric material may separate electrical contact pads 242 from each other.
Referring to
Fuze 218 may be moved toward fuze setter station 216 to insert radome housing 222 into port 216b in order to perform a fuze setting operation. Fuze 218 may be moved away from fuze setter station 216 to remove radome housing 222 from port 216b once fuze setting has occurred. Alternatively, fuze setter station 216 may be moved toward fuze 218 to perform a fuze setting operation and may be moved away from fuze 218 once fuze setting has occurred. In one example, the fuze 218 and fuze setter station 216 may both be moved toward each other to perform a fuze setting operation and one or both may be moved away from each other after fuze setting has occurred. The relative movement between fuze 218 and fuze setter station 216 is indicated by arrow “E” in
In one example, instead of the surface 258a of programming block 258 being oriented substantially parallel to longitudinal axis “Y” of fuze 218, surface 258a of programming block 258 may, instead, be angled to match the taper of sidewall 222a of radome housing 222. When surface 258a is angled to match the taper of sidewall 222a, electrical contact pins 248 may extend outwardly from the surface 258a to substantially the same extent.
In one example, localized contact grooves are formed in sidewall 222a of radome housing 222. In one example, the grooves are defined in side wall in four locations about the circumference of sidewall 222a with the locations being spaced every ninety degrees from each other. In one example, an electrical contact pad 242 is seated in each of the contact grooves. In one example, eight grooves are defined in sidewall 222a and one complementary electrical contact pad 242 is seated in each groove. In one example, the electrical contact pad 242 is about 0.08 inches wide by 0.03 inches thick. A dielectric material may separate electrical contact pads 242 from each other.
Referring now to
The continuous concentric ring electrical contact pads 342 provided on front end 222b of radome housing 222 as in
Referring to
In accordance with the present disclosure, fuze 418 includes a fifth embodiment of an electric contact arrangement and the fuze setter programming block 458 includes a complementary electric contact arrangement. The fifth embodiment electric contact arrangements of fuze 418 and programming block 458 form a fifth embodiment electrical interface between fuze 418 and programming block 458. This electrical interface enables power and/or data to be transferred from programming block 458 to fuze 418 during a fuze setting operation.
The discrete electrical contact pads 442 are arranged in a plurality of concentric rings or bands around the circumference of sidewall 422a. As a result, electrical contact pads 442 are arranged in a rotationally symmetric fashion. Each concentric ring of electrical contact pads 442 is oriented generally at right angles to a longitudinal axis “Y” of fuze 418. Each of the rings of electrical contact pads 442 is segmented and includes two or more electrical contact pads arranged in the same vertical plane when radome housing 422 is viewed from the side as in
The location of electrical contact pads 442 on sidewall 422a of radome housing 422 tends to avoid HoB Sensor transmitter obscuration. Since these electrical contact pads 442 are closer to bottom of radome housing 422 there is a shorter electrical path length to electronics and the segmented contact band configuration tends to reduce inductive/antenna effects of individual contact bands. Additionally, the use of rotationally symmetric contact bands avoids the need to rotationally align the fuze 418 to a fuze setter. The configuration is compatible with the nose approach of engaging the fuze 418 with a fuze setter station that includes a programming cup or port. The configuration is also compatible with software upgrade programming while fuze 418 (or the associated projectile) is packaged in a storage container. (It will be understood that the other embodiments disclosed herein that are suitable for a nose approach of engagement between the fuze and fuze setter are similarly compatible with software upgrade programming when the fuze or projectile is packaged in a storage container.)
In one example, instead of the surface 458a of programming block 458 being oriented substantially parallel to longitudinal axis “Y” of fuze 418, surface 458a of programming block 458 may, instead, be angled to match the taper of sidewall 422a of radome housing 422. When surface 458a is angled to match the taper of sidewall 422a, electrical contact pins 448 may extend outwardly from the surface 458a to substantially the same extent.
Segmented electrical contact pads 442 as in
Referring to
In accordance with the present disclosure, fuze 518 includes a sixth embodiment of an electric contact arrangement and the fuze setter station 516 includes a complementary electric contact arrangement. The sixth embodiment electric contact arrangements of fuze 518 and fuze setter station 516 form a sixth embodiment electrical interface between fuze 518 and fuze setter station 516. This electrical interface enables power and/or data to be transferred from fuze setter station 516 to fuze 518 during a fuze setting operation.
The configuration of electrical contact pads 542 is suitable for a nose approach of engaging fuze 518 and fuze setter station 516. When fuze 518 is received in port 516b such that nose 522 of radome housing 522 is located proximate front wall 516d of fuze setter station 516, an electrical interface will be formed between at least one column 570A, 570B of electrical contact pins 548 and at least one sector 568A, 568B, 568C, 568D of electrical contact pads 542. The electrical interface enables the transfer of power and/or data from fuze setter station 516 to fuze 518.
It will be understood that a fuze setter station or a fuze programming block will be provided for engagement with fuze 616. The selected fuze setter station or fuze programming block will be one that is configured to be complementary to the configuration of electrical contact pads 642a, 642b on fuze 618. The electrical contact pins 648 will therefore be arranged as a combination of the electrical contact pins 248 and 448 shown in
It will further be understood that any different pattern of circumferential rings of electrical contact pads 642a and segmented circumferential rings of electrical contact pads 642b may be utilized on fuze 616 and that a complementary fuze setter station for engagement therewith will then be provided to perform a fuze setting operation.
It will be understood that a complementary fuze setter station will be provided for engagement with fuze 718 to set up an eighth embodiment of an electrical interface for the transfer of power and/or data from the fuze setter station to the fuze 718. The fuze setter station may be a combination of the fuze setter stations shown in
It will be understood that the circular rings of electrical contact pads 742a and the segmented circular rings of electrical contact pads 742b may be arranged differently from the arrangement shown in
To aid in the following description, each electrical contact pad 842 is provided with a number between “1” and “8”. The electrical contact pads are therefore identified in the figures as “P1”, “P2”, “P3”, “P4”, “P5”, “P6”, “P7”, and “P8”. Adjacent electrical contact pads 842, such as “P4” and “P5”, are separated from each other by a radially-oriented space 870. Because there are eight discrete pads 842, there are eight radially-oriented spaces 870.
Sixteen electrical contact pins 848 are provided on a fuze setter that is to be used to program fuze 818. Because of commutation, any of the electrical contact pins may be assigned to either be used as an electrical contact pin that transfers power from the fuze setter to fuze 818, or as an electrical contact pin that is used to communicate information from the fuze setter to fuze 818. Typically, the electrical contact pins 848 used to transfer power should be sized larger than those used to transfer data in order for them to handle the larger electrical currents that power transfer typically requires, as compared to communication signals. More generally, since any electrical contact pin 848 may be used for either power or communication transfer, every electrical contact pin 848 should have the characteristics necessary to perform both functions.
Since the configuration of fuze electrical contact pad 842 illustrated in
Each group of electrical contact pins “A” and “B” of the fuze setter is assigned to a signal. The electrical contact pins “A” and “B” of each group are separated angularly by a specific gap size; that size being half the pitch of the electrical contact pads 842. This gap size or spacing between the electrical contact pins “A” and “B” within each group helps to ensure that at least one electrical contact pin “A” or “B” of that group will always be fully engaged with one of the electrical contact pads 842. The gap width between the electrical contact pins “A” and “B” of each group is identified in
A pair of spaced-apart edge detect contacts 876 are provided on the fuze setter. Edge detect contacts 876 are used to determine if a selected electrical contact pin 848 is on an edge of an associated electrical contact pad 842 and is therefore only in partial contact with that electrical contact pad 842. Edge detect contacts 876 make this determination by “bracketing” one of the electrical contact pins of a selected group. The term “bracketing” is used to indicate that the selected electrical contact pin “A” is bracketed by the edge detect contacts 876 in an angular rotation sense. The two edge detect contacts 876 are angularly located at positions on opposite sides of the angular location of the electrical contact pin “A”. In contrast, in
In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, fuze 818 is provided with a loopback resistor 878.
Upon first contact being made between fuze 818 and the fuze setter, the electrical relationship between electrical contact pins 848 and electrical contact pads 842 is unknown, as is the orientation of fuze 818. Locating the loopback resistor 878 is made possible by utilizing a loopback resistor of a known value. The electrical impedance between successive pairs of electrical contact pads, e.g. “P1” and “P2” is measured by the fuze setter. The loopback resistor value may differ from impedance between other pairs of electrical contact pins and this feature may be utilized to identify the location of the loopback resistor 878 on a fuze whose orientation is unknown. Once the loopback resistor 878 location is identified, all other electrical contact pad locations are known.
The components illustrated in
The location of loopback resistor 878 is determined by progressively interrogating adjacent groups of electrical contact pins 848. Since electrical contact pin “A” of “G1” was found to not be in contact with an electrical contact pad, by geometry, all of the electrical contact pins “A” are not in contact with any of the electrical contact pads, based on the geometry of the configuration. This means, by the same geometry, that all of the electrical contact pins “B” are in contact with electrical contact pads. Consequently, the electrical contact pin “B” of each group will be utilizing for locating loopback resistor 878. In the second step of the process, the “B” electrical contact pins of adjacent groups are interrogated until loopback resistor 878 is found. The resistor value between the loopback electrical contact pins differs in impedance from the impedance between other sets of electrical contact pins. This difference in impedance is utilized to uniquely identify the loopback resistor 878. When the loopback resistor 878 is located, the locations of the electrical contact pads “P1” and “P2” are automatically located since it is known that the terminals of the loopback resistor 878 are on these two electrical contact pads. Once the location of loopback resistor 878 and thereby “P1” and “P2” are known, the locations of all other electrical contact pads “P3” through “P8”, are immediately known.
In the next step, the signals from the fuze setter are rotated to match the orientation of the electrical contact pads “P1” to “P8”. This is accomplished by performing electrical commutation to rotate electrical contact pin assignments on the fuze setter interface to match the rotational orientation of the electrical contact pads “P1” to “P8”.
The process and the electrical commutation will now be explained in greater detail. In order to commute the signals, the electrical contact pin out is arranged in groups (G1 to G8) such that two adjacent electrical contact pins (“A” and “B”) are associated with each one of the eight signals. Adjacent electrical contact pins “A” and “B” in each group are spaced from each other to ensure that at least one electrical contact pin of each group is in full contact with one of the electrical contact pads 842. An example of electrical contact pin/Pad/Gap spacing geometry is more fully described hereafter. With respect to the geometry, the electrical contact pad-to-gap size ratio (i.e., electrical contact pad 842 to gap between electrical contact pins “A” and “B”) is nominally a 3:1 ratio of electrical contact pad width to gap width. For example, as shown in
The process of determining the orientation of the fuze involves interrogating the edge detect contact pair 876 to determine a location of an electrical contact pad edge relative to electrical contact pin “A”. If electrical contact pin “A” is found to be not in full contact with an electrical contact pad 842 then electrical contact pin “B” is utilized. In another step, groups of adjacent electrical contact pins are interrogated to determine which two groups are connected by the fuze loopback resistor 878. Referring to
Electrical commutation is then performed to assign the correct electrical contact pins on the fuze setter station (i.e., “G3” to “G8”) to the corresponding electrical contact pads 842 on the fuze 818, i.e., to “P3 to “P8). After the above process, “G1” is assigned to electrical contact pad “P1”, “G2” is assigned to electrical contact pad “P2”, “G3” is assigned to electrical contact pad “P3” and so on until “G8” is assigned to electrical contact pad “P8”.
In order to ensure that the system will function correctly, two factors are considered, namely, the size of electrical contact pads 842 and the ability to detect the edges 842a, 842b of electrical contact pads 842. With respect to electrical contact pad size, the geometry of electrical contact pads 842 and of electrical contact pins 848 ensures that at least one electrical contact pin of an A-B pair (or group) will be in full contact with an electrical contact pad 842. When an electrical contact pin is only in partial contact with an electrical contact pad (edge contact) then the other electrical contact pin of that pair of electrical contact pins may be utilized for signal mapping.
Pins “A” and “B” are shown. The convolution waveforms represent the amount of contact overlap between each electrical contact pin and the electrical contact pad at different locations. For example, when electrical contact pin “A” is in Position 0, the convolution waveform is low, indicating that there is no overlap (e.g. no electrical contact) between electrical contact pin “A” and the electrical contact pad. As electrical contact pin “A” is moved to the right, the amount of overlap gradually increases until electrical contact pin “A” is in full contact with the electrical contact pad “P8” when electrical contact pin “A” is completely in position 1. That is, the leading edge of electrical contact pin “A” is at the left edge of position 2. The convolution waveform for electrical contact pin “A” shows that it has reached a maximum value at the end of position 1, meaning that the electrical contact pin “A” is in full contact with the electrical contact pad “P8”. Electrical contact pin “A” begins to fall off of the first electrical contact pad “P8” when entering position 7, and it is fully out of contact with the electrical contact pad “P8” when in position 8.
Electrical contact pin “B” is offset from electrical contact pin “A”, but it slides to the right along with electrical contact pin “A” because it is part of the same electrical contact pin group “G1”. The amount of offset is one-half the contact pitch equivalent to 4 units in this example, but other spacings are possible. The key factor is that the spacings are such that at least one of electrical contact pin “A” or electrical contact pin “B” of this group “G1” is always in full contact with an electrical contact pad. The convolution waveform of electrical contact pin “B” shows this. It is of the same shape as the electrical contact pin “A” waveform, but it is offset by the 4 units, which constitutes the separation distance between electrical contact pin “A” and electrical contact pin “B”.
The size and spacing of the electrical contact pads “P8” and “P1” and gap 870 between them, and the size and spacing of electrical contact pins “A” and “B”, are adjusted such that at least one of electrical contact pin “A” or electrical contact pin “B” is always fully on an electrical contact pad. This can be seen by observing the convolution waveforms and noting that whenever one of the electrical contact pins is in either partial or no contact with an electrical contact pad, the other electrical contact pin is in full contact.
It remains then to determine if one of the electrical contact pins is only in partial contact with an electrical contact pad. One example would be examining electrical contact pin “A” when halfway between Positions 0 and 1. The edge detect contacts C1, C2 (i.e., 876 in
An electrical continuity check between edge detect contacts C1-C2 can be performed by the fuze setter side of the interface to detect if both edge detect contacts C1, C2 are in contact with the same electrical contact pad on the fuze. Since the spacing between electrical contact pins “A” and “B” of the “G1” pair of electrical contact pins ensures that at least one of the two electrical contact pins is fully in contact with an electrical contact pad, it is only necessary to determine if “A” is in full contact with an electrical contact pad. If it is, then electrical contact pin “A” can be used. If the edge detect continuity test fails, then electrical contact pin “B” must be in full contact with an electrical contact pad. Consequently, it is only needed to place edge detect contacts C1, C2 on the “A” electrical contact pin.
The method of using the edge detect contacts 876 therefore can be summarized as follows. Edge detect contacts 876 are spaced-apart such that the interior gap between the contacts 876 is greater than a diameter of a signal electrical contact pin 848. Edge detect contacts 876 bracket electrical contact pin “A” of one of the electrical contact pin groups. The fuze setter performs an electrical continuity check between the two edge detect contacts 876 to establish whether both edge detect contacts 876 are contacting the same electrical contact pad. If both edge detect contacts 876 are not in contact with the same electrical contact pad, then electrical contact pin “A” is not in full contact with an electrical contact pad.
On the other hand, if both edge detect contacts 876 are in contact with the same electrical contact pad 842, then the bracketed electrical contact pin “A” must also be in contact with that same electrical contact pad. This means that, by geometry, all electrical contact pins “A” (i.e., every electrical contact pin “A” in each electrical contact pin group—“G1” to “G8”) are in full contact with one of the electrical contact pads and every electrical contact pin “B” is not in full contact with an electrical contact pad. This situation is shown in
A separate process, previously described herein with reference to
The Loopback_Detect signal output falls when a connection has been established between the electrical contact pin on the driving channel and the electrical contact pin on the grounding channel through R2 loopback resistor (see
Detecting a decrease in Loopback_Detect voltage as described above is specific to the particular embodiment depicted in
The corresponding output pin from each of the analog switches “SW1” to “SW2” (i.e., (Y1-Y8) are connected to one of the eight electrical contact pins “A”, “B” of the four groups of two electrical contact pins). Thus, as illustrated, Y1 of each of the switches “SW1” to “SW5” is connected to electrical contact pin “A” of Group 1. Similarly, corresponding signal pins Y(N) from each of the analog switches “SW1” to “SW5” is connected to an individual electrical contact pin on the fuze setter interface. In this manner, every signal (Signal N) applied to “SW1” to “SW5” is applied to any of the fuze setter electrical contact pins.
The Enable pin is used to activate or disable a particular analog switch device “SW1” to “SW5”. This tristates all of the Y(N) channel, thereby effectively removing the particular switch from the circuit when not needed. When the Enable signal activates a switch, the Channel Select inputs determine which of the Y(N) channels is connected to the “A” pin on the fuze setter. Thus, any signal applied to electrical contact pin “A” is able to be directed to any of the Y channels as an output. Since the analog switches “SW1” to “SW5” are bidirectional, any signals applied to the Y(N) channels as inputs can be directed to the electrical contact pin “A” of the fuze setter as an output.
In summary, the computer that is operatively engaged with the fuze setter 1 is provided with software that is capable of identifying a location of the loopback resistor 878, associates the location of the loopback resistor 878 with a location of the pair of electrical contact pads “P1”, “P2”, and ultimately rotates signals to the plurality of second electrical contacts 848 based on the location of the pair of electrical contact pads “P1”, “P2”.
In one example, when electrical commutation is performed to rotate the pin assignments on the fuze setter interface to match the electrical contact pads 842, the electrical commutation also rotates the pin assignments on the fuze setter interface to match a HoB sensor within fuze 818.
It should further be noted that because electrical contact pads 842 are located on front end 822b of radome housing 822, they may melt off radome housing 822 in flight and this melting removes any HoB sensor obscuration that pads 842 may have previously caused.
It will be understood that instead of providing discrete wedge-shaped electrical contact pads 842 on front end 822b of radome housing 822, the electrical contact pads 842 may be provided on the sidewall of radome housing 822. A complementary pattern of electrical contact pins will then be provided on a fuze setter that is to be used to program the fuze utilizing the electrical contact pads on the sidewall. The manner of programming this fuze will be the same as described above with respect to
Referring again to
If after step 902 where the edge detect contacts 876 are interrogated it is found that the selected pin “A” of “G1” is not in full contact with an electrical contact pad, then instead of selecting to use electrical contact pin “B” in step 904, electrical contact pin ring 876 is rotated in a step 904A. (Step 904 is omitted.) Electrical contact pin ring 876 is rotated through one-half of the angular pitch between fuze contacts. This moves all of the fuze setter electrical contact pins 848 into full contact with their associated fuze electrical contact pads. For example, both pin “A” and pin “B” of “G1” will be in contact with “P1”. The process then continues as described earlier herein with step 904 of finding the location of the loopback resistor 878.
In this option, a mechanical structure 880 is provided and the edge detect contacts 876 and the electrical contact pins 882 are mounted on the mechanical structure. The mechanical structure 880 may be an electrical contact pin ring or electrical contact pin plate. The structure is illustrated as a pin ring 880 in
When needed, the ring 880 may be rotated through one-half pitch thereby causing movement of all of the electrical contact pins 882 and edge detect contacts 876 by the same amount relative to the fuze electrical contact pads 842. This rotational motion guarantees that all fuze setter electrical contact pins 882 are now in full electrical contact with associated fuze electrical contact pads 842. Since this approach requires a means to perform the rotation of the fuze setter electrical contact pins 882, the approach introduces mechanical complexity into the fuze setter configuration. However, the approach simplifies the electrical interface by requiring only one fuze setter electrical contact pin 882 for each fuze electrical contact pad 842. Thus, by incorporating electrical contact pin rotational indexing, the number of channels required in an analog switch and the overall number of analog switches required may be reduced by a corresponding amount.
Utilizing a signal commutation approach, each of the eight fuze setter signals is associated with an analog switch. Each of the analog switches is 1:8, with each switch output associated with (connected to) one of the eight fuze setter contact points on the fuze. All outputs on all analog switches are tristated except for the selected channel, to avoid signal conflict. Once the location of the loopback resistor is known, the channel assignment of each input in its respective switch output can be made. Analog switches can be designed for bidirectional operation, allowing data output from fuze to be communicated back to fuze setter. All analog switches/signal paths need to be designed to support input power current levels, as any of them could end up being connected to fuze electrical contact pins based on fuze roll orientation.
Under this process, the fuze setter 12 utilizes a half-duplex communication protocol. Therefore, the fuze 18 only responds to messages initiated and sent by the fuze setter 12. The fuze setter 12 and the fuze 18 take turns using a single communication link, which in turn minimizes the number of electrical contacts needed to realize the link. Full duplex communication between fuze setter and fuze, allowing simultaneous, bi-directional communication may be implemented. The number of electrical contacts in the interface may need to be adjusted accordingly to accommodate full-duplex communication capability. For example, ten electrical contact pads may need to be used instead of eight electrical contact pads in order to provide full-duplex communication capability.
It should be noted that the various embodiments of electrical contact pad configurations disclosed herein as being provided on the fuze side of the programming interface (i.e. on the fuze) are compatible with a high acceleration launch environment; typically in excess of 10,000 g's; the configurations tend not to affect aerodynamic behavior of guided projectile 10. These configurations also tend not to affect or be affected by any electromagnetic signals transmitted from or received by the fuze (e.g. HoB sensor radar, telemetry, GPS) or by the ambient environment. Additionally, the electrical contact pad configurations disclosed herein are compatible with reprogramming while the fuze or the guided projectile is in a storage container.
In the nose approach of forming the mechanical and electrical interfaces between the fuze and fuze setter, the programming cup or port of the fuze setter approaches the nose of the radome housing on the fuze. This nose approach make it possible to access all electrical contact pads located around the radome housing substantially simultaneously. The nose approach is compatible with both commutation and direct electrical contact pad/electrical contact pin configurations and can be used with autoloader and manual fuze setting operations. In a manual fuze setting operation, an embodiment of the fuze setter programming cup (similar to as element 16 shown in
In the side approach of forming the mechanical and electrical interfaces between the fuze and fuze setter, the programming interface (e.g. programming block) comes toward the radome housing from one side. The side approach is therefore limited to working with direct electrical contact pin configurations on one side of the radome housing. In some instances the side approach may not work well for manual fuze setting as it is somewhat more complex to mechanically align and secure the programming block to the radome housing during programming.
In the clamshell approach of forming the mechanical and electrical interfaces between the fuze and fuze setter, the fuze setter components may approach the fuze from two sides or from multiple opposed directions. The clamshell approach has similar benefits to the nose approach and makes it possible to access all contacts around the radome housing substantially simultaneously. The clamshell approach may be compatible with both commutation and direct electrical contact pad configurations on the sidewall of the radome housing but may not be compatible with electrical contact pad configurations on the front end of the radome housing. The clamshell approach tends to be compatible with both autoloader and manual fuze setting operations.
With respect to any of the embodiments of fuze and fuze setter disclosed herein each electrical contact pad on the fuze may be assigned to a specific signal. Each electrical contact pad may engage a corresponding electrical contact pin dedicated to a specific signal. Each electrical contact pad may have a separate electrical connection to the internal electronics of the artillery projectile.
It will be understood that any of the arrangements of electrical contact pads disclosed herein may be combined with each other configuration of electrical contact pad on a fuze. Furthermore, the electrical contact pads may be differently shaped and sized from what is disclosed herein. Still further, some electrical contact pads may be provided on the sidewall of the radome housing or fuze body and other electrical contact pads may additionally be provided on the nose of the radome housing. Whatever arrangement of electrical contact pads is utilized, a complementary arrangement of electrical contact pins will be utilized in a fuze setter station or on a programming block to ensure that there is the formation of an electrical interface. The arrangement of the electrical contact pads and of the electrical contact pins preferably is such that there is little to no need to rotate the fuze to obtain alignment of the electrical contact pads and electrical contact pins to form the desired electrical interface.
It will further be understood that any configuration of electrical contact pad and electrical contacts (such as electrical contact pins) may be utilized on a fuze and fuze setter that enable direct electrical contact, electrical commutation or signal commutation for programming of the fuze.
It will further be understood that any of the embodiments of the fuze configuration disclosed herein may include ten electrical contact pads instead of eight electrical contact pads. In other examples fewer than eight electrical contact pads or more than eight electrical contact pads may be utilized. In other examples more than ten electrical contact pads may be utilized. In each example, the number of electrical contact pads will be arranged to be rotationally symmetrical. The fuze setter that is configured to mate with a fuze having other than eight electrical contact pads will be configured to include a number of electrical contact pins that is sufficient to enable communication between the fuze and fuze setter.
It will further be understood that in any of the embodiments disclosed herein, the electrical contact pins may be located on the fuze and the electrical contact pads may be located on the fuze setter.
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure. It is intended that the scope of the present disclosure be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.
A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Although operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.
It will be understood that in other examples, electrical contact pads may be provided on fuze body instead of on radome housing. In other examples, electrical contact pads may be partially provided on radome housing and partially on fuze body.
Various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.
While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.
The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerous ways. For example, embodiments of technology disclosed herein may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code or instructions can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed among multiple computers. Furthermore, the instructions or software code can be stored in at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium.
Also, a computer or smartphone utilized to execute the software code or instructions via its processors may have one or more input and output devices. These devices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface. Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interface include printers or display screens for visual presentation of output and speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentation of output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a user interface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touch electrical contact pads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receive input information through speech recognition or in other audible format.
Such computers or smartphones may be interconnected by one or more networks in any suitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network, such as an enterprise network, and intelligent network (IN) or the Internet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and may operate according to any suitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.
The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as software/instructions that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such software may be written using any of a number of suitable programming languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed on a framework or virtual machine.
In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as a computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, USB flash drives, SD cards, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other non-transitory medium or tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments of the disclosure discussed above. The computer readable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to implement various aspects of the present disclosure as discussed above.
The terms “program” or “software” or “instructions” are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executable instructions that can be employed to program a computer or other processor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to one aspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methods of the present disclosure need not reside on a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a number of different computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present disclosure.
Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.
Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in any suitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may be shown to have fields that are related through location in the data structure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigning storage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium that convey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanism may be used to establish a relationship between information in fields of a data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or other mechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
“Logic”, as used herein, includes but is not limited to hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations of each to perform a function(s) or an action(s), and/or to cause a function or action from another logic, method, and/or system. For example, based on a desired application or needs, logic may include a software controlled microprocessor, discrete logic like a processor (e.g., microprocessor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmed logic device, a memory device containing instructions, an electric device having a memory, or the like. Logic may include one or more gates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Logic may also be fully embodied as software. Where multiple logics are described, it may be possible to incorporate the multiple logics into one physical logic. Similarly, where a single logic is described, it may be possible to distribute that single logic between multiple physical logics.
Furthermore, the logic(s) presented herein for accomplishing various methods of this system may be directed towards improvements in existing computer-centric or internet-centric technology that may not have previous analog versions. The logic(s) may provide specific functionality directly related to structure that addresses and resolves some problems identified herein. The logic(s) may also provide significantly more advantages to solve these problems by providing an exemplary inventive concept as specific logic structure and concordant functionality of the method and system. Furthermore, the logic(s) may also provide specific computer implemented rules that improve on existing technological processes. The logic(s) provided herein extends beyond merely gathering data, analyzing the information, and displaying the results. Further, portions or all of the present disclosure may rely on underlying equations that are derived from the specific arrangement of the equipment or components as recited herein. Thus, portions of the present disclosure as it relates to the specific arrangement of the components are not directed to abstract ideas. Furthermore, the present disclosure and the appended claims present teachings that involve more than performance of well-understood, routine, and conventional activities previously known to the industry. In some of the method or process of the present disclosure, which may incorporate some aspects of natural phenomenon, the process or method steps are additional features that are new and useful.
The articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.” The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims (if at all), should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc. As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or “exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
When a feature or element is herein referred to as being “on” another feature or element, it can be directly on the other feature or element or intervening features and/or elements may also be present. In contrast, when a feature or element is referred to as being “directly on” another feature or element, there are no intervening features or elements present. It will also be understood that, when a feature or element is referred to as being “connected”, “attached” or “coupled” to another feature or element, it can be directly connected, attached or coupled to the other feature or element or intervening features or elements may be present. In contrast, when a feature or element is referred to as being “directly connected”, “directly attached” or “directly coupled” to another feature or element, there are no intervening features or elements present. Although described or shown with respect to one embodiment, the features and elements so described or shown can apply to other embodiments. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.
Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper”, “above”, “behind”, “in front of”, and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if a device in the FIGS. is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term “under” can encompass both an orientation of over and under. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, the terms “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “lateral”, “transverse”, “longitudinal”, and the like are used herein for the purpose of explanation only unless specifically indicated otherwise.
Although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describe various features/elements, these features/elements should not be limited by these terms, unless the context indicates otherwise. These terms may be used to distinguish one feature/element from another feature/element. Thus, a first feature/element discussed herein could be termed a second feature/element, and similarly, a second feature/element discussed herein could be termed a first feature/element without departing from the teachings of the present invention.
An embodiment is an implementation or example of the present disclosure. Reference in the specification to “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” “an exemplary embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the invention. The various appearances “an embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one particular embodiment,” “an exemplary embodiment,” or “other embodiments,” or the like, are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments.
If this specification states a component, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. If the specification or claim refers to “a” or “an” element, that does not mean there is only one of the element. If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element.
As used herein in the specification and claims, including as used in the examples and unless otherwise expressly specified, all numbers may be read as if prefaced by the word “about” or “approximately,” even if the term does not expressly appear. The phrase “about” or “approximately” may be used when describing magnitude and/or position to indicate that the value and/or position described is within a reasonable expected range of values and/or positions. For example, a numeric value may have a value that is +/−0.1% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−1% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−2% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−5% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−10% of the stated value (or range of values), etc. Any numerical range recited herein is intended to include all sub-ranges subsumed therein.
Additionally, the method of performing the present disclosure may occur in a sequence different than those described herein. Accordingly, no sequence of the method should be read as a limitation unless explicitly stated. It is recognizable that performing some of the steps of the method in a different order could achieve a similar result.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.
Moreover, the description and illustration of various embodiments of the disclosure are examples and the disclosure is not limited to the exact details shown or described.
This application claims priority as a Continuation to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/605,450, filed on Jan. 23, 2019 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/621,085, filed on Jan. 24, 2018; the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62621085 | Jan 2018 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16605450 | Oct 2019 | US |
| Child | 17217971 | US |
