US 4,478,581 AGranted

Method and apparatus for shooting simulation of ballistic ammunition _with movable targets

AssigneePrecitronic Gesellschaft fur Feinmechanik und Electronics mbH

InventorWilfried Goda

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Abstract

A shooting simulation and training method for ballistic ammunition and mole targets. Before firing the shot, a continuously repeated measurement of the target by laser measurement pulses transmitted at the weapons side is performed. A determination of the target distance and target deviation from a reference line, and storage of data derived therefrom is then performed. At the time of firing the shot, a transmission of the stored data by coded laser signals to the target is accomplished, followed by conclusion of scanning of the target. After firing the shot and during the simulated projectile flight time, measurement of the actual movement of the target relative to the receiving direction of the laser signals is determined. A score is determined by comparing the transmitted data with the target position at the end of the projectile flight time.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method of simulating shooting with ballistic ammunition from a weapon having a sighting axis onto a moving target using laser pulses, said weapon aimed acoording to a required elevation and lead angle relative to the target, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining at the weapon, prior to releasing a simulated shot, position related data of the target relative to the weapon, the position related data including at least the time-of-flight interval of a simulated projectile over the actual target distance and the elevation and lead angles of the wepon relative to the aotual target position;
(b) transmitting, at the moment of releasing a simulated shot, the position related data via coded laser pulses from the weapon to the target, determining at the target the direction of incidence of the laser pulses, and terminating laser pulse transmission from the weapon to the target;
(c) measuring at the target, during a time interval following the transmission of the laser pulses and corresponding to said time-of-flight interval of the simulated projectile, the movement of the target vectorially relative to the determined direction of incidence of the laser pulses, determining therefrom the final target position at the end of said time-of-flight interval, and comparing it with the transmitted position related data;
(d) controlling a hit indication responsive to the degree of correspondence between the final target position and a point of impact of the simulated shot determined from the transmitted position related data.

1 more element

Apparatus for simulating shooting with ballistic ammunition from a weapon having a sighting axis onto a moving target using laser pulses transmitted from a weapon-side laser transmitter, the target including target-side retroreflectors for reflecting the laser pulses back to a weapon-side laser receiver, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a control means in said laser transmitter for controlling the transmitted pulses to repeatedly scan through a scanning pattern which defines a solid angle, the solid angle having a reference line therethrough corresponding to the sighting axis of the weapon;
(b) a weapon-side plotting means responsive to the weapon-side laser receiver for determining target position related data including the target distance from the transit time of the laser pulses from the transmitter back to the weapon-side receiver, and the off-aim position of the target relative to the reference line from the direction of incidence of the target reflected laser pulses relative to the sighting axis of the weapon, said means for determining the target distance and off-aim position including a first memory for storing the last determined values for the target position related data;
(c) a weapon-side coding means for controlling said control means at the time of each shot simulation to superimpose on the laser pulses a code representative of the last stored values for the target position related data, the target position related data including the time-of-flight for the projectile to reach the target and an elevation and lead angle which defines a predicted position for the target at the end of the flight time;
(d) a target-side measurement means including sensors for determining the direction of incidence of the transmitted laser pulses, for receiving.the coded position related data, and for determining the travel speed of the target and the direction of travel relative to the measured direction of incidence;
and
(e) a target-side plotting means responsive to said measurement means for determining actual target position related data at the end of the projectile flight time on the basis of the travel speed relative to the direction of incidence, said target-side plotting means including a comparison means for comparing the transmitted target position related data to the actual target position related data determined at the end of the flight time and for indicating a hit if they correspond.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.