Remote target acquisition and lock-on system

Abstract

Abstract 1. A remote target acquisition and lock-on system for use with the control aircraft and an electro-optically guided missile which is launched prior to target acquisition, comprising: A. AN AREA CORRELATION TYPE ELECTRO-OPTICAL TELEVISION SEEKER MEANS LOCATED IN A GUIDED MISSILE AND INCLUDING A STORAGE TUBE MEANS, OPTICAL-AXIS AXIS TORQUING MEANS AND CROSS-HAIR GENERATOR MEANS, B. A TIMING GENERATOR MEANS ALSO LOCATED IN THE MISSILE FOR AUTOMATICALLY CAUSING SAID SEEKER MEANS TO STORE A NEW IMAGE IN ITS STORAGE TUBE AT REGULAR FIXED INTERVALS. C. A DATA LINK MEANS LOCATED IN THE MISSILE AND CONSISTING OF A SEGMENT SCAN CONVERTER MEANS, DATA TRANSMITTING MEANS AND COMMAND RECEIVING MEANS, D. A DATA RECEIVER MEANS, A STORAGE DISPLAY MEANS, A CONTROL STICK ASSEMBLY, AND COMMAND TRANSMITTER MEANS ALL LOCATED IN A CONTROL AIRCRAFT, E. SAID SEEKER MEANS FEEDING AN INITIAL HIGH-FRAME-RATE VIDEO REFERENCE SIGNAL OF THE IMAGE OF A SCENE TO THE SEGMENT SCAN CONVERTER MEANS OF SAID DATA LINK MEANS, F. SAID SEGMENT SCAN CONVERTER MEANS CONVERTING THE HIGH-FRAMERATE VIDEO SIGNAL TO A LOW-FRAME-RATE SIGNAL, G. SAID DATA TRANSMITTING MEANS IN THE MISSILE TRANSMITTING SAID LOW-FRAME-RATE SIGNAL FROM THE SCAN CONVERTER TO SAID DATA RECEIVER MEANS IN THE CONTROL AIRCRAFT, H. THE SIGNAL RECEIVED BY THE DATA RECEIVER MEANS BEING DISPLAYED ON SAID STORAGE DISPLAY MEANS IN THE AIRCRAFT FOR VISUALLY DETERMINING WHETHER THE DESIRED TARGET APPEARS IN THE DISPLAYED IMAGE, I. SAID CONTROL STICK ASSEMBLY BEING MANUALLY OPERABLE TO GENERATE COMMANDS WHICH ARE FED TO THE COMMAND TRANSMITTING MEANS IN THE AIRCRAFT AND TRANSMITTED TO THE COMMAND RECEIVING MEANS IN THE MISSILE FOR CAUSING THE OPTICAL AXIS OF SAID SEEKER MEANS TO BE TORQUED TO LOOK AT ANOTHER SCENE AT EACH INTERVAL UNTIL THE DESIRED TARGET IS DISPLAYED ON SAID DISPLAY MEANS IN THE AIRCRAFT, J. MANUALLY OPERABLE MEANS IN SAID CONTROL STICK ASSEMBLY OPERABLE TO CAUSE COMMAND SIGNALS TO BE TRANSMITTED AT SUCH TIME AS A TARGET IMAGE APPEARS ON SAID DISPLAY FOR INHIBITING SAID TIMING GENERATOR MEANS FROM AUTOMATICALLY RE-CYCLING THE STORAGE TUBE OF SAID SEEKER MEANS AT SAID REGULAR FIXED INTERVALS AND FOR GENERATING TRACKING-MODE CROSS-HAIRS ON SAID AIRCRAFT, DISPLAY MEANS, SAID CONTROL STICK ASSEMBLY ALSO INCLUDING MEANS OPERABLE TO ADJUST SAID CROSS-HAIRS TO FIX ON THE TARGET IMAGE AND FOR PRODUCING A SIGNAL REPRESENTING THE POSITION OF SAID CROSS-HAIRS WHICH IS TRANSMITTED TO THE MISSILE CAUSING ADJUSTMENT OF REFERENCE VOLTAGES IN SAID SEEKER MEANS TO CORRESPOND TO THE CROSS-HAIR POSITION, WHEREBY THE MISSILE SEEKER MEANS IS LOCKED-ON THE TARGET FOR TRACKING SAME.

Inventors

• 👤 K Hecker

Bibliographic Details