Projectile ranging with digital map
AssigneeAtlantic Inertial Systems Limited
InventorsNicholas Robert Geoffrey Wilkinson, Martin Richard Godfrey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A terrain-referenced navigation system for an aircraft comprises: a stored digital terrain map; a position calculation unit arranged to calculate aircraft position relative to the stored digital terrain map to determine a terrain-referenced aircraft position; a fall line calculation unit arranged to calculate a fall line for a projectile starting from the terrain-referenced aircraft position as a launch point; and an impact point calculation unit arranged to directly compare the fall line with the digital terrain map, by incrementally comparing a height of the projectile along the fall line with a height of the terrain according to the stored digital terrain map in order to find an expected impact point on the terrain.
Claims17
A terrain-referenced navigation system for an aircraft, the system comprising:
- a stored digital terrain map;
- a position calculation unit arranged to calculate aircraft position relative to the stored digital terrain map to determine a terrain-referenced aircraft position;
- a fall line calculation unit arranged to calculate a fall line for a projectile starting from the terrain-referenced aircraft position as a launch point;
- and
- an impact point calculation unit arranged to directly compare the fall line with the digital terrain map, by incrementally comparing a height of the projectile along the fall line with a height of the terrain according to the stored digital terrain map in order to find an expected impact point on the terrain.
A terrain-referenced navigation method comprising:
- calculating aircraft position relative to a stored digital terrain map to determine a terrain-referenced aircraft position;
- calculating a fall line for a projectile starting from the terrain-referenced aircraft position as a launch point;
- and
- directly comparing the fall line with the digital terrain map, by incrementally comparing a height of the projectile along the fall line with a height of the terrain according to the stored digital terrain map in order to find the expected impact point on the terrain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.