Recapture of remotely-tracked command guided vehicle into the tracker's field-of-view

A method of recapture of an remotely tracked missile within a tracker's field-of-view (FOV), the missile including a plurality of actuators configured to perform maneuvers in first and second mutually orthogonal directions, the method comprising:

• upon loss of a valid track of the missile,
• (a) holding a last actuator command as a nominal actuator command in a projectile coordinate system that maneuvers the missile on a straight-line path from a last known position of the missile towards the tracker's FOV;
• (b) generating a delta actuator command including an orthogonal component orthogonal to the straight-line path as a next sample of a time-based alternating signal and an inline component inline with the straight-line path;
• (c) using an angle of the straight-line path in the tracker coordinate system to transform the delta actuator command into a projectile coordinate system,
• (d) summing the nominal actuator command and the delta actuator command in the projectile coordinate system to generate a total actuator command;
• (e) transmitting the total actuator command from the remote tracker to the missile to control the plurality of actuators to command guide the missile to maneuver in the first and second orthogonal directions back and forth across the straight-line path to increase an area of missile motion relative to the tracker's FOV;
• and
• repeating steps (a) through (e) until the missile re-enters the tracker's FOV and valid track is re-established or track is lost.

A remotely tracked command guided missile system, comprising:

• a missile including a motor and a plurality of actuators configured to maneuver the missile in first and second mutually orthogonal directions in a projectile coordinate system;
• and
• a missile launcher comprising,
• a platform for launching the missile,
• a sight for placement of cross-hairs on a target;
• a sensor having a tracker field of view (FOV) that includes the cross-hairs;
• a communication link between the missile launcher and the missile;
• a guidance computer including
• a signal processor coupled to the sensor and configured to set a track valid flag if the missile is detected in the FOV and to generate a measured missile position in the FOV,
• a first summing node configured to form a difference of the measured missile position and a desired missile position in the FOV as an error signal,
• a controller configured to generate a new nominal actuator command based on the error signal if the track valid flag is true and hold a last valid nominal actuator command to place the missile on a straight-line path from a last known position of the missile towards the desired missile position in the FOV if the track valid flag is false;
• a recapture module implemented by the signal processor configured to generate a delta actuator command including an orthogonal component orthogonal to the straight-line path as a next sample of a time-based alternating signal;
• and
• a second summing node configured to sum the nominal actuator command and the delta actuator command to form a total actuator command;
• and
• a transmitter configured to transmit the total actuator command from the missile launcher over the communication link to the missile in flight to the control surface actuator to control the plurality of actuators to command guide the missile to maneuver in the first and second orthogonal directions back and forth across the straight-line path to increase an area of missile motion relative to the tracker's FOV until the signal processor determines that the missile re-enters the tracker's FOV and valid track is re-established setting the track valid flag to true or track is lost setting the track valid flag to false.