Weapon Alignment via Retroreflector Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing weapons systems on moving platforms face accuracy issues due to changes in alignment caused by ship flexure or mast sway, making it difficult to maintain precise targeting when multiple weapons share a single high-performance target tracking system.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a reference measurement sensor package with an imaging sensor and a laser range finder to measure the direction and range to retroreflectors on the weapon, allowing a processing circuit to calculate the target position in the weapon's coordinate system and determine the target pointing direction, thereby correcting for alignment changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the high-performance target tracking system is mounted on or near the weapon, then the alignment accuracy between the sensor and weapon is improved, but the ability of multiple weapons to share a single sensor is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the alignment measurement function into separate components: a reference measurement sensor package mounted on the ship that measures the attitude and position of multiple weapons independently. Each weapon has retroreflectors that can be measured by the reference sensor, allowing one sensor to serve multiple weapons without compromising alignment accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
Retroreflectors mounted on each weapon serve as intermediaries that enable the reference measurement sensor to accurately determine the weapon's attitude and position. The retroreflectors reflect the sensor's measurements back to the sensor package, allowing precise alignment measurement without the sensor needing to be mounted on the weapon itself.
2Reliability
If the reference measurement sensor package is installed in the high-performance target sensor, then the alignment changes due to ship flexure or mast sway can be measured, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The reference measurement sensor package combines an imaging sensor and a laser range finder into a single integrated unit mounted on the high-performance target sensor. This merged package measures both the direction and range to retroreflectors on multiple weapons simultaneously, improving reliability while managing complexity through integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The reference measurement sensor package is designed to measure the attitude and position of multiple weapons simultaneously using the same sensor unit. The imaging sensor and laser range finder work together to provide comprehensive alignment data for multiple weapons, making the system universally applicable to different weapon platforms.
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 system ensures precise alignment of the weapon with the target, improving targeting accuracy by accounting for real-time changes in the weapon's attitude and position, even when multiple weapons share a single sensor.
Implementation Method 1
Each reference point may be a retroreflector
Implementation Method 2
a laser range finder configured to measure the distance, in the coordinate system of the target sensor, to each retroreflector of the subset of the retroreflectors
Data Source
AI summary
A system for aligning a weapon to a high-performance target sensor. A reference measurement sensor installed on the target sensor measures the direction and range to each of several references points on the weapon. From these measurements, and measurement by the target sensor of target states, a processing circuit calculates the states of the target in a coordinate system of the weapon. Each reference point may be a retroreflector; the reference measurement sensor may include an imaging sensor to measure direction, and a laser range finder to measure range.