Guidance system

Claim 2

In a guidance system for a missile, said system including an illuminating radar and its antenna and said missile including pitch and yaw control devices, a rear antenna and a front scanning antenna; said illuminating radar including an oscillator for generating a high-frequency reference signal, a second oscillator for generating a second signal of lower frequency, a mixer for combining said second and said reference signals to produce a target illuminating signal, an amplifier for receiving and amplifying both of said reference and illuminating signals and means connecting said amplified signals to said illuminating antenna; said missile including a first band-pass filter connected to said rear antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said reference signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and to discriminate against said target illuminating signal; a second band-pass filter connected to said front scanning antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said target illuminating signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and said target and to discriminate against the band of frequencies passed by said first band-pass filter; means operatively connected to said scanning antenna for imposing a modulation signal on the signal received by said scanning antenna, said modulation signal varying in phase depending upon the position of said target; mixing and filtering means connected to said band-pass filters for producing a modulated intermediate frequency signal; means for detecting and amplifying said modulated signal; means producing an alternating current signal in phase with the movement of said scanning antenna; and phase-responsive means for comparing said modulated signal with said alternating current signal for controlling the operation of said pitch and yaw control devices.

Claim 3

In a guidance system for a missile, said system including an illuminating radar and its antenna and said missile including pitch and yaw control devices, a rear antenna and a front scanning antenna; said illuminating radar including an oscillator for generating a high-frequency reference signal, a second oscillator for generating a second signal of lower frequency, a mixer for combining said second and said reference signals to produce a target illuminating signal, an amplifier for receiving and amplifying both of said reference and illuminating signals and means connecting said amplified signals to said illuminating antenna; said missile including a first band-pass filter connected to said rear antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said reference signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and to discriminate against said target illuminating signal; a second band-pass filter connected to said front scanning antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said target illuminating signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and said target and to discriminate against the band of frequencies passed by said first band-pass filter; means operatively connected to said scanning antenna for imposing a modulation signal on the signal received by said scanning antenna, said modulation signal varying in phase depending upon the position of said target; mixing and filtering means connected to said band-pass filters for producing a modulated intermediate frequency signal; means for detecting and amplifying said modulated signal; means producing an alternating current signal in phase with the movement of said scanning antenna; and phase-responsive means for comparing said modulated signal with said alternating current signal for controlling the operation of said pitch and yaw control devices.

Claim 4

In a guidance system for a missile, said system including an illuminating radar and its antenna and said missile including pitch and yaw control devices, a rear antenna and a front scanning antenna; said illuminating radar including an oscillator for generating a high-frequency reference signal, a second oscillator for generating a second signal of lower frequency, a mixer for combining said second and said reference signals to produce a target illuminating signal, an amplifier for receiving and amplifying both of said reference and illuminating signals and means connecting said amplified signals to said illuminating antenna; said missile including a first band-pass filter connected to said rear antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said reference signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and to discriminate against said target illuminating signal; a second band-pass filter connected to said front scanning antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said target illuminating signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and said target and to discriminate against the band of frequencies passed by said first band-pass filter; means operatively connected to said scanning antenna for imposing a modulation signal on the signal received by said scanning antenna, said modulation signal varying in phase depending upon the position of said target; mixing and filtering means connected to said band-pass filters for producing a modulated intermediate frequency signal; means for detecting and amplifying said modulated signal; means producing an alternating current signal in phase with the movement of said scanning antenna; and phase-responsive means for comparing said modulated signal with said alternating current signal for controlling the operation of said pitch and yaw control devices.

Claim 5

In a guidance system of the semiactive homing type for a missile having a front scanning antenna, a rear antenna and means for changing the yaw and pitch of said missile, said system including an illuminating antenna: an oscillator for generating a reference signal of high frequency, a second oscillator for generating a second signal of much lower frequency. a mixer for combining said reference and said second frequencies to produce a target-illuminating signal having a frequency equal to the sum of said frequencies, an amplifier for receiving and amplifying both of said reference and illuminating signals, and means connecting said reference and illuminating signals to said illuminating antenna for radiating said signals in the direction of said missile and said target; said missile carrying a first band-pass filter connected to said rear antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said reference signal modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and to discriminate against said target-illuminating signal, a second band-pass filter connected to said front scanning antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said target illuminating signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and said target and to discriminate against the band of frequencies passed by said first band-pass filter, means operatively connected to said scanning antenna for imposing a modulation signal on the signal received by said scanning antenna, said modulation signal varying in phase in accordance with the position of said target, a mixer for receiving the outputs of said band-pass filters and heterodyning said signals to produce a modulated intermediate frequency signal, means for detecting and amplifying said modulated intermediate frequency signal, a reference alternator responsive to the movement of said front scanning antenna, a pitch phase detector and a yaw phase detector connected to said alternator and to said amplifying means such that modulation signals indicative of headings right or left of the target are of proper phase to be passed by said yaw detector to said yaw-changing means and signals indicative of headings above or below the target are of proper phase to be passed by said pitch detector to said pitch-changing means.

Claim 6

In a guidance system of the semiactive homing type for a missile having a front scanning antenna, a rear antenna and means for changing the yaw and pitch of said missile, said system including an illuminating antenna: an oscillator for generating a reference signal of high frequency, a second oscillator for generating a second signal of much lower frequency. a mixer for combining said reference and said second frequencies to produce a target-illuminating signal having a frequency equal to the sum of said frequencies, an amplifier for receiving and amplifying both of said reference and illuminating signals, and means connecting said reference and illuminating signals to said illuminating antenna for radiating said signals in the direction of said missile and said target; said missile carrying a first band-pass filter connected to said rear antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said reference signal modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and to discriminate against said target-illuminating signal, a second band-pass filter connected to said front scanning antenna adapted to pass a band of frequencies including the frequency of said target illuminating signal as modified by the Doppler effect caused by the velocity of said missile and said target and to discriminate against the band of frequencies passed by said first band-pass filter, means operatively connected to said scanning antenna for imposing a modulation signal on the signal received by said scanning antenna, said modulation signal varying in phase in accordance with the position of said target, a mixer for receiving the outputs of said band-pass filters and heterodyning said signals to produce a modulated intermediate frequency signal, means for detecting and amplifying said modulated intermediate frequency signal, a reference alternator responsive to the movement of said front scanning antenna, a pitch phase detector and a yaw phase detector connected to said alternator and to said amplifying means such that modulation signals indicative of headings right or left of the target are of proper phase to be passed by said yaw detector to said yaw-changing means and signals indicative of headings above or below the target are of proper phase to be passed by said pitch detector to said pitch-changing means.

Claim 7

A guidance means as set forth in claim 3 wherein said system includes a tracking radar coordinated to move with said illuminating antenna and said tracking radar includes a fire control computer, said second oscillator includes means for varying its output frequency, and connections are provided from said fire control computer to said frequency varying means to vary the frequency output of said second oscillator with changes in the position of said target.