Projectile Guidance Beam Pattern Shadow Zone Elimination
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beam riding guidance systems using monopulse clusters with 4 waveguides often create a shadow zone near the center where the missile is not illuminated, leading to potential loss of control data and trajectory correction issues due to physical limitations and manufacturing challenges.
Innovation Solution
Emitting beams from the launching position to the vertices of a regular polygon, with an additional encompassing beam that sums the preceding beams to ensure continuous illumination and data transmission, allowing for interpolation of the projectile's position and correction of its trajectory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If 4 waveguides are merged within an emission horn to generate beams pointing to vertices of a square, then the beam pattern provides guidance coverage to the target, but a shadow zone is created near the center where the missile is not illuminated
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the beam coverage into two distinct functional parts: four directional beams pointing to the vertices of a square that provide guidance information, and one encompassing beam that covers the central shadow zone. This segmentation allows each beam to serve a specific purpose - the directional beams for precision guidance and the encompassing beam for reliable illumination coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The encompassing beam acts as an intermediary element that bridges the gap created by the four directional beams. It specifically targets the shadow zone in the center where no other beam reaches, ensuring continuous illumination and data transmission to the missile regardless of its position within the coverage area.
2Reliability
If the angular distance between the 4 beams is reduced to improve coverage, then the shadow zone shrinks, but manufacturing becomes far more difficult and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of reducing the angular distance between the four existing beams (which would require complex manufacturing), the invention adds a fifth dimension to the beam configuration - an encompassing beam that radiates in all directions within the square. This dimensional addition solves the coverage problem without requiring any change to the original four beam directions or their spacing.
Solution Approach 2:
The encompassing beam serves multiple functions simultaneously: it illuminates the central shadow zone, provides backup illumination for all areas, and ensures continuous data transmission to the missile. This multi-functionality achieves complete coverage without requiring precise angular positioning or complex manufacturing adjustments to the original four beams.
3Length of moving object
If dielectric material is used instead of air within the waveguides to reduce spacing, then the beam spacing decreases, but the clusters become far more expensive and difficult to tune
Solution Approach 1:
The encompassing beam creates a redundant copy of the illumination function that covers the entire area including the shadow zone. This copied coverage function ensures that even if the original four beams have suboptimal spacing or alignment, the missile remains illuminated and can receive guidance data, effectively compensating for manufacturing tolerances without requiring precise tuning.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution eliminates the shadow zone, ensuring reliable data transmission and trajectory correction without requiring major modifications to existing guidance systems, using standard interpolation methods and existing computing capacity.
Implementation Method 1
a monopulse cluster comprising 4 waveguides, each waveguide being used alternately to emit 4 beams
Implementation Method 2
the 4 waveguides being used simultaneously to emit a beam encompassing the 4 preceding beams
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3a~3c
Figure 3d~3f
AI summary
There is disclosed an apparatus and a method for guidance of a projectile. The method for guidance of a projectile, includes emission from the launching position of the projectile of beams pointing to the vertexes of a regular polygon, emission from the launching position of a beam encompassing the preceding beams, determination of position of the projectile relative to the beams, the determined position enabling to correct the projectile trajectory to maintain the projectile the closer to the centre of the polygon formed by the beams.