Unmanned range-programmable airburst weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in targets
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
F41G-003/16
F41G-003/06
출원번호
US-0355550
(2012-01-22)
등록번호
US-8833231
(2014-09-16)
발명자
/ 주소
Venema, Benjamin Joseph
출원인 / 주소
Raytheon Company
대리인 / 주소
Gifford, Eric A.
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
7인용 특허 :
4
초록▼
An unmanned range-programmable airburst weapon system provides automated tracking and prosecution of soft targets such as UAVs at close ranges. A range-programmable gun that fires airburst rounds and a seeker that images the target within a FOV are mounted on a gimbaled turret. A tracking controller
An unmanned range-programmable airburst weapon system provides automated tracking and prosecution of soft targets such as UAVs at close ranges. A range-programmable gun that fires airburst rounds and a seeker that images the target within a FOV are mounted on a gimbaled turret. A tracking controller is responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands from the seeker to maintain the target in the seeker's FOV. A fire controller is responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution to range program an airburst round and to point and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position.
대표청구항▼
1. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in non-projectile targets, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds to prosecute close-in non-projectile
1. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in non-projectile targets, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds to prosecute close-in non-projectile targets to provide perimeter protection for a protected zone;a feed for said range-programmable airburst rounds; anda control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising: a seeker comprising collection optics and an IR sensor mounted for imaging the non-projectile target within a field-of-view (FOV) and a tracking processor to generate tracking commands;a range finder for generating range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV; anda fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution including a direction to point at a predicted target position, a time to fire and a detonation range for an airburst round and execute the fire solution by selecting and range programming an airburst round with said detonation range and pointing and firing the gun in the direction at the time to fire so that the round explodes in mid-air at the predicted target position. 2. The weapon system of claim 1, wherein the gun and the seeker collection optics are mounted on the turret with a fixed pointing relationship, said tracking controller and fire controller responsive to tracking commands to point the turret so that the target is maintained in the IR sensor's FOV and the gun points at the predicted target position within the FOV of the IR sensor, wherein the direction to the target is offset from the pointing direction of the gun at the predicted target position. 3. The weapon system of claim 2, wherein said tracking controller and said fire controller point the turret so that the gun points along a central axis of the IR sensor's FOV at the predicted target position and the target is imaged off-axis within the sensor's FOV. 4. The weapon system of claim 2, wherein the range-programmable airburst round is fired at a velocity in excess of 400 m/s. 5. The weapon system of claim 1, wherein the turret is mounted on a moving platform, said gimbaled turret configured to pitch, yaw and roll to point the turret, further comprising an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to provide inertial measurements including a platform roll measurement, said tracking controller and fire controller responsive to the inertial measurements to maintain the target in the sensor FOV and to point the gun at the predicted target position. 6. The weapon system of claim 1, further comprising: a gimbaled target identification camera responsive to the target cue or tracking commands to track the target to acquire and display an image for human visual target confirmation to enable the gun to fire. 7. The weapon system of claim 1, further comprising: a target detection system comprising a network of one or more sensor nodes configured to search a wide field-of-view (FOV), detect the presence of a moving target and generate the target cue. 8. The weapon system of claim 7, wherein the target detection system generates and prioritizes target cues for a plurality of targets, said system providing the target cues to the gun in order of priority. 9. The weapon system of claim 1, wherein the feed includes range-programmable airburst rounds having different levels of lethality, said fire controller selecting the lethality of the airburst round fired at the target based on the detonation range in the ballistic firing solution. 10. The weapon system of claim 1, wherein said tracking controller and said fire controller are responsive to tracking commands to point the turret to that a direction to the target maintained in the IR sensor's FOV is offset from a pointing direction of the gun at the predicted target position. 11. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in targets, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds; anda control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising: a seeker comprising collection optics and an IR sensor mounted for imaging the target within a field-of-view (FOV) and a tracking processor to generate tracking commands, wherein the seeker collection optics are gimbal-mounted within the control unit to point independently of the turret;a range finder for generating range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to point the seeker optics to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV; anda fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution for an airburst round, to slew the turret to point the gun at the predicted target position outside the FOV of the IR sensor and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position. 12. The weapon system of claim 11, wherein the range-programmable airburst round is fired at a velocity less than 400 m/s. 13. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in targets, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds; anda control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising: a seeker comprising collection optics that collects both IR and RF radiation from the target, co-boresighted IR and RF sensors mounted for imaging the target within a field-of-view (FOV) and a tracking processor to generate tracking commands, said RF sensor generating both images of the target and range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV; anda fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution for an airburst round including to point and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position. 14. The weapon system of claim 13, wherein the seeker further comprises a semi-active laser (SAL) sensor that detects laser energy reflected off the target, said SAL sensor co-boresighted with the IR and RF sensors to share the optics to collect laser energy. 15. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in targets, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds; anda control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising: a seeker comprising collection optics and an IR sensor mounted for imaging the target within a field-of-view (FOV) and a tracking processor to generate tracking commands;a range finder for generating range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV; anda fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution for an airburst round including to point and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position, wherein the fire controller is responsive to GPS coordinates of the gun and GPS coordinates of safety areas to inhibit firing the gun if the predicted target position is within a safety area. 16. The weapon system of claim 15, wherein the gun is configured to fire different range-programmable rounds having different levels of lethality, said safety areas specifying the rounds if any that may be fired, said fire controller selecting the round with the highest lethality level allowed by the safety area. 17. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in non-projectile targets, comprising: a fixed emplacement target detection system comprising a network of one or more visible or IR sensor nodes positioned within a defined protected zone, said nodes configured to search a wide field-of-view (FOV), detect the presence of a moving non-projectile target and generate a target cue; anda fixed emplacement weapon within the defined protected zone, comprising: a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret;a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds;a feed for said range-programmable airburst rounds; anda control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising: a seeker comprising collection optics and an IR sensor for imaging the target within a narrow FOV and a tracking process to generate tracking commands;a range finder for generating range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to the target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to maintain the target in the IR sensor's narrow FOV; anda fire controller responsive to coordinates of the fixed emplacement unmanned weapon and coordinates that define the protected zone and to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution to range program an airburst round and to point and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position to provide perimeter protection of the defined protected zone. 18. The weapon system of claim 17, wherein the sensor collection optics are gimbal-mounted within the control unit to point independently of the turret, said tracking controller responsive to tracking commands to point the seeker collection optics to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV, said fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to slew the turret to point the gun at the predicted target position outside the FOV of the IR sensor. 19. The weapon system of claim 17, wherein the seeker further comprises an RF sensor that both images the target and provides the range finder range-to-target measurements, said IR and RF sensors being co-boresighted and sharing the collection optics to collect IR and RF radiation from the target. 20. The weapon system of claim 17, wherein the gun is configured to fire different range-programmable rounds having different levels of lethality, said fire controller responsive to GPS coordinates of the gun and GPS coordinates of safety areas specifying the rounds if any that may be fired, said fire controller selecting the round with the highest lethality level allowed by the safety area.
Pack, Robert Todd; Allard, James; Barrett, David S.; Filippov, Misha; Svendsen, Selma, System and method for behavior based control of an autonomous vehicle.
Pack, Robert Todd; Allard, James; Barrett, David S.; Filippov, Misha; Svendsen, Selma, System and method for behavior based control of an autonomous vehicle.
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