Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
110196~
Background of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle guidance systems
wherein a vehicle is guided for a portion of its flight in a command guidance
mode and for another portion of its flight in a homing guidance mode. More
particularly, the invention pertains to such vehicle guidance systems wherein
a reference element having a known attitude orientation is required to be
contained within such vehicle.
As is known in the art, a vehicle, such as a missile, may be guided
towards a target by guidance signals developed from tracking data obtained
either at a remote radar station or by radar means contained within the mis-
sile. The former system is commonly called a command guidance system and the
latter a homing guidance system. For example, in a command guidance missile
system wherein a missile is used to intercept an airborne target, a large,
remotely located high resolution radar system and high speed digital computer
may be provided for selecting one of a plurality of targets, tracking both
the missile and the selected target, calculating proper guidance signals for
the missile from generated tracking data, and transmitting such calculated
guidance signals to the missile. As is known, a reference element such as an
attitude stabilized platform, having an angular orientation which is known at
the remote station, is generally required to be contained within such missile
for enabling transformation of the transmitted guidance signals into missile
control signals. Further, in a homing guidance missile system a smaller,
light weight, low power tracking radar system may be provided for generation
of both target tracking data and guidance signals. Such low power tracking
radar system (or at least the receiver portion thereof as in a semi-active ~ -
application) may, because of its relative lighter weight, be contained within
the missile. Generally, such homing guidance system includes a target track-
ing antenna. Such target tracking antenna is generally gimballed to substan-
tially eliminate the effect of missile body rate on the tracking data.
In one type of known missile systems, the features of command
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guidance and homing guidance techniques are combined. During the early
portion of the missile's flight guidance signals are developed by a digital
computer operated in response to signals obtained by tracking both the mis-
sile and a selected target with a high resolution radar system. During the
latter portion of the flight guidance signals are obtained by tracking the
target with the radar receiver portion of a radar system fed by a gimballed
tracking element carried by the missile.
For reasons discussed above, such missile would require an attitude
reference element during at least the early portion of the missile's flight.
One arrangement considered for providing such an attitude stabilized refer-
ence is to use an attitude stabilized platform. Such an arrangement re-
quires, additionally, a gimballed radar receiving antenna having at least two
degrees of freedom with respect to the missile's body for providing tracking
data during the latter portion of the missile's flight. The attitude stabil-
ized platform generally includes: (a) three rate sensing gyros disposed to
measure angular rates about a respective one of three mutually orthogonal
axes; and (b), three corresponding drive means controlled, respectively, by
each one of the rate sensing gyros to rotate, relative to the missile's body,
the platform in a manner so as to compensate for any angular rotation experi-
enced thereby. A common mechanism for providing such drive means is a mechan-
ical servo. Such servos are relatively costly and are generally relatively
heavy.
Summary of the Invention
With this background of the invention in mind it is an object of
this invention to provide, for use in a vehicle guidance system wherein a
vehicle is adapted to respond selectively to guidance signals derived from
tracking data generated at a remote station and to tracking data generated
by means contained within such vehicle, improved apparatus contained within
the vehicle, such apparatus being adapted to provide both a reference ele-
ment with a known angular orientation at the remote station and a gimballed
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tracking element.
It is another object of the invention to control the attitude of theabove mentioned reference element without the use of three relatively costly
and heavy mechanical servosO
These and other objects of the invention are attained generally by `~
adapting the gimballed tracking element contained within a vehicle to function
additionally as an attitude reference element, such element being stabilized
by mechanical servo drives in pitch and yaw and stabilized by aerodynamical
means in roll. In a preferred embodiment, a gimballed target tracking antenna
on a missile having two degrees of freedom with respect to the vehicle's body
has mounted thereon, in addition to its conventional pair of rate sensing
gyros, a third rate sensing gyro~ The three gyros are disposed to sense any
angular change in the inertial orientation of the antenna. The output signals
from each one of the conventional pair of rate sensing gyros are used as input
signals for one of the mechanical servo drives coupled to the antenna. The
output signals from the third rate sensing gyro are used as input signals to
the missile's roll autopilot. The two servo drives and the roll autopilot
thus function to attitude stabilize the antenna, such attitude stabilized
antenna thus being adapted to serve as a reference element for enabling proper
transformation of guidance signals transmitted between the missile and a re-
mote station during at least a portion of the missile's flight and as a target
tracking antenna. The two servo drives and the missile's roll autopilot are
also adapted to respond to signals transmitted to the missile from the remote
station to position the reference element to any desired attitude orientation.
In accordance with the inven~ion there is provided in a vehicle
guidance system, wherein a vehicle is guided during a portion of flight to-
wards a selected target in a command guidance mode and during another portion
of the flight in a homing guidance mode, apparatus comprising: ~a) target
tracking means, including a target tracking element carried by the vehicle,
f~r gene~ating guidance signals for the vehicle during the homing guidance
mode; (b) first means, affixed to the target tracking element, for sensing the
inerti'al angular rates of such element about a pitch axis and a yaw axis;
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(c) means, responsive to the first means, for gimballing the target tracking
element with respect to the vehicle's body about the pitch axis and the yaw
axis during the homing guidance mode; (d) second means, affixed to the target
tracking element, for sensing the inertial angular rate of such target track-
ing element about an axis mutually orthogonal to the pitch axis and the yaw
axis; and (e) means, responsive to the first means and the second means, for
stabilizing the attitude of the target tracking element at a known angular
orientation during the command guidance mode.
Brief Description of the Drawings
These objects and many of the attendant advantages of the invention
will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference
to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the
accompanying drawings wherein:
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Figure 1 shows a missile being guided towards a selected target by
a guidance system using the principles of the invention;
Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the main portions of guidance
control elements carried by the missile and their relationship to a target
tracking antenna;
Figure 3 shows in some detail the receiver/processor of Figure 2;
and
Figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Referring now to Figure 1, a missile 10 is shown in flight being
guided to intercept target 12 by responding either to guidance signals trans-
mitted to the missile 10 from remote radar station 13 (as in a command guid-
ance system) or to guidance signals developed by radar means contained within
the missile 10 (as in a homing guidance system).
When operating in a command guidance mode, remote radar system 13
tracks both the missile 10 and the target 12. The tracking data obtained by
such system are processed in a digital computer (not shown but located at the
remote radar station) to convert such tracking data into guidance signals.
The guidance signals are then transmitted to the missile 10. The transmitted
guidance signals are received by a downlink antenna 15 and are then fed to
receiver/processor 17 where they are converted into control signals for the
missile's flight control section 19. It is readily apparent that the guid-
ance signals computer at the remote radar station 13 are signals calling for
missile 10 to maneuver in desired directions. Such guidance signals are con-
verted by the flight control section 19 to maneuver the missile 10. In par-
ticular, missile 10 here being cruciform, may be maneuvered in any lateral
direction by controlling along two orthogonal axes (commonly called the pitch
and yaw axes) pitch and yaw control surfaces 20, respectively. It follows
then that the guidance signals calling for a maneuver of the missile in the
desired direction must be resolved properly between the pitch and yaw control
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surfaces 20 to bring about such called-for maneuver. Such resolution may be
made, provided the angular orientation of the wing surfaces 20 is known.
Knowledge of the angular orientation of the wing surfaces 20 is possible by
carrying within the missile 10 a reference element (to be described). Suf-
fice it to say here that -the angular orientation (i.e. attitude) of such ref-
erence element is known at the remote radar station 13.
When operating in a homing guidance mode the missile 10 is aligned
so that its heading at the initiation of such mode is approximately along a
collision course with target 12. The remote radar station 13 transmits radar
frequency energy towards target 12. A portion of such radar frequency energy
is reflected by target 12 and is received by the missile's tracking antenna
22. Signals representative of angular deviation of the target 12 from the
boresight axis of target tracking antenna 22 are developed in a conventional
manner and passed through receiver/processor 17 to both the target tracking
antenna control section 24 and the flight control section 19. Such signals
are used to drive the radar tracking antenna 22 so as to maintain track of
target 12 and also to maneuver the missile 10 so as to-maintain the missile
on a collision course with such target 12. To put it another way, let it be
assumed that the missile 10 is aligned along a collision course with the tar-
get 12 and the boresight axis of the target tracking antenna 22 is pointingat the target 12, then if the missile 10 stays on the collision course the
boresight axis of the target tracking antenna 22 will remain pointing at the
target 12. However, if the missile 10 deviates from such collision course
(for example, if the target 12 maneuvers) the boresight axis of the target
tracking antenna 22 will no longer be pointed at target 12. That is, a bore-
sight error will then be developed, such boresight error being proportional
to the change in line of sight angle between the missile 10 and target 12.
It is immediately apparent that the target tracking antenna 22 must be driven
to null out such boresight error to prevent losing track of target 12. Fur-
ther, as is known in proportional navigation guidance, it is desirable to
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have the missile 10 turn from its present flight path at a rate proportional
to the rate of change in such line of sight angle. The missile turn rate is
produced by having the missile accelerate laterally (i.e. normal to the line
of sight) in a direction to null the change in the line of sight angle.
That is, the missile 10 must maneuver to get back on a collision course with
target 12. The lateral acceleration of the missile 10 is produced by de-
flecting selected control surfaces 20. In particular, the tracking of the
target 12 by the radar tracking antenna 22 and the maneuvering of the missile
10 to maintain such missile on a collision course is accomplished by develop-
ing a signal representative of the boresight error and feeding such signal to
both flight control section 19 and target tracking antenna control section 24.
It is here noted that the target tracking antenna 22 is gimballed
in two degrees of freedom with respect to the missile's body. Such gimballing
is here accomplished in a conventional way by mounting two rate sensing gyros
to such antenna to sense the inertial rates experienced thereby and by pro-
viding drive means to move the target tracking antenna 22 relative to the
body of the missile 10. The target tracking antenna 22 is gimballed to pre-
vent the missile's body motion from developing an erroneous boresight error
signal.
Referring now to Figure 2, flight control section 19 is shown to
include pitch, yaw and roll autopilots 26, 27, 28, each one of such autopilots
being controlled by receiver/processor 17. The output signals from each one
of such autopilots is fed to an actuator section 30. The pitch, yaw and roll
autopilots 26, 27 and 28 may be of any conventional design. The actuator
section 30 may also be of any conventional design. The actuator section is
mechanically coupled to control surfaces 20. The control surfaces 20 are
pivotably mounted to the missile's body. Deflection of one pair of opposing
control surfaces (called pitch control surfaces, i.e. those driven by the
pitch autopilot) produce maneuvers of the missile about a pitch axis P and
deflection of the other pair of control surfaces (called the yaw control
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surfaces, i.e. those driven by the yaw autopilot) produce maneuvers of the
missile about a yaw axis Y. The differential deflection of one pair of con-
trol surfaces, say the pitch control surfaces, produce rolling of the missile
10 about its longitudinal axis. Such differential deflection is produced
when the actuator section 30 responds to command signals from the roll auto-
pilot 28.
Target tracking antenna control section 24 includes a structure 32
to which the target tracking antenna 22 is mounted. Structure 32 is designed
to enable the target tracking antenna 22 to move with two degrees of freedom
within the missile. In particular, such structure 32 includes a base 34
suitably affixed to the missile's body. An outer member 36 is pivotally
mounted to the base 34 so as to rotate about an antenna pitch axis, P', such
axis being parallel to pitch axis P. Inner member 38 is pivotally mounted to
outer member 36 so as to rotate about an antenna yaw axis, Y', such axis
being perpendicular to antenna pitch axis P'. Affixed to such inner member
38 is the target tracking antenna 22. The boresight axis of such antenna is
mutually orthogonal to the antenna pitch axis P' and the antenna yaw axis Y'.
Target tracking antenna 22, which may be any conventional target tracking
antenna, here is a monopulse antenna. Therefore, a pair of signals is pro-
duced by such antenna, one of such pair of signals representing a component
of the boresight error along antenna pitch axis, P', one of the pair of sig-
nals representing the component of such boresight error along the antenna yaw
axis, Y'. The outer and inner structures 36, 38 are coupled to the output of
pitch drive 42 and yaw drive 40, respectively, in any convenient way (here
shown by dotted lines). That is, the yaw drive 40 pivots the inner structure
38 about the antenna yaw axis Y'. Likewise, the pitch drive 40 pivots the
outer structure 36 about the antenna pitch axis, P'. The yaw and pitch
drives 40, 42 may be electrical or mechanical motors responsive to electrical
signals supplied by receiver/processor 17. Three antenna rate sensing gyros
44, 46, 48 are mounted to the inner structure 38. The input axis of each one
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of the three antenna rate sensing gyros are disposed along mutually ortho-
gonal axes. In particular, antenna rate sensing gyros 44, 46 and 48 are ori-
ented so that the output signals from each one of such gyros represents,
respectively, the angular rate of the target tracking antenna 22 about an-
tenna yaw axis Y', antenna pitch axis P' and its boresight axis. It is
therefore apparent that the output signals also provide a measure of the
inertial angular rate of structure 32.
Referring now to Figure 3, receiver/processor 17 is seen to include
a heterodyne receiver 50 fed by target tracking antenna 22 and a heterodyne
receiver and control 52 fed by the downlink antenna 15. Heterodyne receiver
and control 52 produces gating signals on either line H or line C in accor-
dance with the guidance mode required for the missile lO. This is, during
the homing guidance mode line H has a gating signal applied to it, whereas
during the command guidance mode line C has a gating signal applied to it.
Let it be assumed that missile lO is launched in the command guid-
ance mode. It will be first noted that signals from the heterodyne receiver
50 (i.e. from target tracking antenna 22) are inhibited from passing to
either the flight control section l9 or the target tracking antenna control
section 24. It will be further note~ that the structure 32 is attitude stab-
ilized and therefore may be considered as a reference element. That is, dur-
ing the command guidance mode, inertial rates experienced by the structure 32
are sensed by antenna rate gyros 44, 46, 48 and signals representative of
such inertial rates are fed to means (to be described) for returning the
structure 32 to the angular orientation it had prior to experiencing such
inertial rates. In particular, the signals representative of inertial rates
about the antenna yaw axis Y' and antenna pitch axis P' sensed by antenna
rate sensing gyros 44 and 46 are fed, respectively, through integrators 54
to yaw drive 40 and pitch drive 42. The roll orientation of structure 32 is
attitude stabilized by coupling the output signals from antenna rate gryo 48
30 to roll autopilot 28. The roll inertial stabilization of the missile lO
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through use of the roll autopilot 28 is possible because the aerodynamic
response of the missile 10 to differential deflection of the pitch control
surfaces is fast enough to inertially stabilize the structure 32 in roll.
Therefore, because a reference element having an angular orientation which -~
is known at the remote radar station 13 (Figure 1) is contained within mis-
sile 10, such missile may be guided with guidance signals transmitted from
remote radar station 13. In particular, guidance signals transmitted from
the remote radar station 13 are received by downlink antenna 15 and then pro-
cessed by heterodyne receiver and control 52. Such guidance signals contain
the following information: (1) the guidance mode in which the missile should
operate (i.e. command or homing) as determined by the range of the missile 10
from the target 12; (2) the maneuver signals being referenced to the known
angular orientation of the reference element (i.e. structure 32); and
(3) command signals for positioning structure 32 in a known orientation to
constrain such structure within limits allowable by tbe physical space pro-
vided for it within the missile 10. Guidance mode selection information is ~;
used to determine whether a gating signal should be applied to line C or to
line ~. Maneuver signals are converted ;nto electrical signals on line 56,
such signals being fed to a computer 58 where they are converted into accel-
20 eration commands referenced to the orientation of the control surfaces, 20,
( .e. the orientation of the missile's body). The conversion of the maneuver
signals from 'ireference element" coordinates to "missile body" coordinates is
made by providing in the missile 10 conventional angle transducers 59, 60.
Such transducers are suitably mounted to provide a measure of the orientation
of the inner element 38 and outer element 36 with respect to the missile's
body. The output of such transducers 59, 60 are fed to computer 58 together
with the maneuver signals on line 56. The properly resolved signals pass
through gages 62 and 64 to pitch and yaw autopilots 26, 27. Command signals
for positioning structure 32 in a known orientation are processed by hetero-
30 dyne receiver and control 52 and appear as angle command signals on lines
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66, 68, 70. Such signals are fed to error computers 72. Let us consider thesignal on line 66. Such signal represents the desired "yaw" position of the
structure 32 in inertial space. The output of integrator 54 is a signal rep-
resentative of the actual "yaw" position of the structure 32 in inertial
space. If the "desired" position and the "actual" position are not equal an
error signal appears on line 74. Such error signal passes through gate 74
and a summer 77 to yaw drive 40. Command of the "pitch" position of struc-
ture 32 is accomplished in a similar way as shown. For roll, however, the
"error signal" out of the error computer 72 is fed through rate 76 to the
roll autopilot 28. The roll autopilot 28 develops signals in response to
such "error signal" whereby the pitch control surfaces are differentially
deflected. The missile's roll attitude is thereby changed because of such -
differential deflection of the pitch control surfaces, such differential de-
flection continuing until the "error signal" is nulled. Let us now assume
that the range between the missile 10 and target 12, as determined by the `
remote tracking station 13, has been reduced to where it is desirable to have ~-~
such missile guide in the homing guidance mode. The missile may be assumed
to be aligned along an approximate collision course with target 12. A signal
is transmitted to missile 10 from such remote station whereby heterodyne re-
ceiver and control 52 produces a gating signal on line H and removes the gat-
ing signal from line C. Therefore, signals from error computers 72 and com-
puter 58 are inhibited from passing to yaw drive 40, pitch drive 42, roll
autopilot 28, pitch autopilot 26 and yaw autopilot 27. The yaw boresight
error signals and pitch boresight error signals developed by the target track-
ing antenna 22 are heterodyned in heterodyne receiver 50 to produce video
frequency signals. The video frequency signals corresponding to the pitch
boresight error and yaw boresight error appear on lines 78, 80, respectively.
Such signals are fed, respectively, to the pitch autopilot 26 and yaw auto-
pilot 27 through gates 82 and 84, as shown. The signals on line 80 are also
fed through gate 86, via summer 77, to yaw drive 40 and the
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signals on line 78 are fed through gate 88, via summer 89, to pitch drive 42
so that target tracking antenna 22 may maintain track of target 12. Signals
from the antenna yaw gyro 44 are through gate 90 to the yaw drive 40 addi-
tionally with the signals passing through gate 86. Likewise signals from the
antenna pitch gyro 46 are fed through gate 92 to pitch drive 40 additionally
with the signals passing through gate 88. The signals from such antenna
pitch and yaw gyros 44, 46 are used therefore to sense the inertial rates of
target tracking antenna 22 and thereby such antenna with respect to the
missile's body for reasons previously discussed.
Referring now to Figure 4, an alternative embodiment employing the
features of the invention is shown. In such embodiment missile 10 is shown
as operating in the command guidance mode. However, the tracking signals are
generated from the signals received by the target tracking antenna 22 rather
than signals received from the target at the remote radar station 13. Thus
signals received by target tracking antenna 22 are fed to heterodyne receiver
50 and then are retransmitted by transmitter 100 back to the remote radar
station 13. The signals from transmitter 100 pass through circulator 102 and
downlink antenna 15 to the remote tracking station 13. Such retransmitted
signals are processed by the computer at the remote radar station 13 to de-
termine guidance signals for the missile. Such guidance signals are trans-
mitted from the remote radar station 13 and are received by downlink antenna
15. The signals received by downlink antenna 15 are processed and responded
to by the missile in the manner described in reference to Figure 3. It is
here noted that the ~arget tracking antenna 22 (and structure 32) serve, in
addition to a target tracking element, as the reference element required dur-
lng the command guidance mode. The orientation control and inertial stabil-
i~ation of such reference element is achieved by means equivalent to those
previously discussed in the command guidance mode of Figure 3.
While the invention has been described using rate sensing gyros
affixed to the target tracking antenna 22, it will now be apparent to one of
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ordinary skill in the art that such gyros and the integrators coupled thereto
may be replaced by rate integrating gyros. It is felt, therefore, that this
invention should not be restricted to the proposed embodiments, but rather
should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the following claims.
