Guidance system

About: Guidance system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4282 publications have been published within this topic receiving 45964 citations.

History of Inertial Navigation

Abstract: the guidance system used by the Germans in 1942 in the V–2 missile can be considered to be the first use of inertial navigation. It is true that Foucault defined the gyroscope in 1852 and that Schuler developed the gyrocompass in 1908, but the former device was only a measuring instrument and the latter, although of inertial quality, was only a partial inertial system. The Sperry flight instruments of the late 1920's and early 1930's were attitude–indicating not velocity or position-indicating devices. Earnest development of inertial navigation systems began in the United States in the late 1940's and early 1950's by the M.I.T. Instrumentation Laboratory, Northrop and Autonetics under Air Force sponsorship. This work led to the inertial guidance systems for ballistic missiles—both land and ship launched. The 1960's brought the Space Age and the advance of inertial guidance in Apollo. During this time inertial guidance systems also found their way into military and then commercial airplanes. Behind the system development was the simultaneous and necessary development of theory, analysis, components, subsystems and testing. The author, whose professional career has been simultaneous with the growth of inertial navigation, draws on his personal experiences in the field of direct association with many of the people and events involved.

Guidance systems for mobile craft

Abstract: A missile is guided onto a target by means of a laser beam, so that the missile can determine and correct its displacement from the boresight of the laser beam. This leads to greater accuracy of guidance, and avoids the need for very narrow beams which could be lost by the missile.

Method and system for guiding an aircraft along a preferred flight path having a random origin

Abstract: An aircraft FMS/guidance system which provides for automated and immediate calculation of a preferred flight path and full heading, pitch-and-roll guidance along that path for paths of random origins, such as during late-occurring missed approaches and circling-to-land maneuvers.

Dynamic inertial coordinate system maneuver detector and processing method

Abstract: A maneuver detector and processing method for use in target trackers employed in weapon guidance systems, and the like, that employs multidimensional measurements and a set of inertial coordinate systems. The maneuver detector and processing method are implemented as follows. Time-delayed target position and velocity estimates of the target are maintained in a history file. These estimates are continuously updated, in that they are transformed 24 into intermediate north, east, down (NED) range Cartesian coordinate systems by correcting for aircraft motion. For each measurement time, the histories are used to predict the position and velocity of the target in an "observation-relative" inertial coordinate system aligned with the line-of-sight to the target. The error between the prediction and observation is calculated and used with the measurement accuracies to calculate a maneuver probability.

Global positioning system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) combination guidance system for semi-physical simulation

Abstract: The utility model discloses a global positioning system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) combination guidance system for semi-physical simulation. The GPS and INS combination guidance system comprises a GPS simulator, a GPS interference detector, a load simulator, a three-axis rotary table and a navigation control computer, wherein the GPS simulator generates a GPS signal through simulation; the GPS interference detector detects whether a GPS receiver suffers interference, judges whether receiving of the GPS signal by the GPS receiver is influenced by the interference and determines the degree of influence; the load simulator simulates load moment which is applied to a steering engine of a guided weapon in a flight process and provides pneumatic energy required by the steering engine; the three-axis rotary table provides three-degree-of-freedom projectile body movement environment, which is similar to actual flight attitude, for a seeker of the guided weapon; and the navigation control computer operates various simulation models to provide test environment, which is substantially real at least in terms of movement, mechanics and target background, for the guided weapon. With the GPS interference detector, the guidance accuracy of the GPS and INS combination guidance system is effectively improved, and the feasibility of a GPS and INS combination guidance scheme is effectively verified.