Hardware-in-the-loop tow missile system simulator

A missile system simulator for use in training people for target acquisition, missile launch, and missile guidance under simulated battlefield conditions comprising:

• simulating means for producing a digital signal representing a simulated battlefield environment including at least one target movable therewithin, the simulating means generating an infrared map representing the field-of-view and the target;
• interface means for converting said digital signals to an infrared image;
• missile system hardware including the missile acquisition, tracking, and guidance portions thereof, said hardware sensing the infrared image to determine the location of the target in a field-of-view;
• and,
• image means for generating an infrared image of a missile launched at the target and guided thereto, the image means imposing the missile image onto the field-of-view for the missile hardware to acquire the image of the missile in addition to that of the target, and to generate guidance signals to guide the missile image to the target image, wherein the interfacing means is responsive to a guidance signal from the hardware to simulate, in real-time, the response of the missile to the guidance signal, the image means including a blackbody, laser means for irradiating the blackbody to heat it to a temperature at which it emits infrared radiation, and optic means for integrating the radiant image produced by heating the blackbody into the infrared map.

A "hardware-in-the-loop" simulator for training people in the use of a missile system to teach target acquisition, missile launch, and missile guidance under simulated battlefield conditions comprising:

• means simulating a battlefield environment including at least one target movable therewithin, said simulating means comprises means generating a digital signal representing the battlefield and the target;
• hardware means including missile acquisition, tracking, and guidance portions of the missile system, the acquisition portion of said hardware means operating on images in an infrared portion of the light spectrum;
• interfacing means for converting signals produced by the simulating means to signals acceptable by the hardware means as representing a field-of-view, including the target, within the battlefield environment, the interfacing means including means responsive to digital signals from the simulating means for generating and projecting an infrared map representing the field-of-view, and the acquisition portion of the hardware means scanning said map to locate the target therewithin;
• and,
• image means for producing an infrared image representative of the missile's position in the field-of-view and for superimposing the image on the map whereby the acquisition portion of the hardware means senses the position of the missile in the field-of-view, said image being acquirable by the hardware means which utilizes the acquired image to determine the position of the missile relative to the target an if a guidance signal is to be sent to the missile to guide it to the target, the image means including a blackbody and laser means for irradiating the blackbody to heat it to a temperature at which it emits infrared radiation, wherein the interfacing means is responsive to a guidance signal from the hardware means to simulate, in real-time, a dynamic response of the missile to the guidance signal.

A missile system simulator for use in training people for target acquisition, missile launch, and missile guidance under simulated battlefield conditions comprising:

• simulating means for producing a simulated battlefield environment including at least one target movable therewithin and for generating a digital signal representative thereof, the simulating means generating an infrared map representing the field-of-view and the target;
• interfacing means for converting said digital signals to an infrared image;
• missile system hardware including the missile acquisition, tracking, and guidance portions thereof, said hardware sensing the infrared image to determine the location of the target in a field-of-view;
• and,
• image means for generating an infrared image of a missile launched at the target and guided thereto, the image means imposing the missile image onto the field-of-view for the missile hardware to acquire the image of the missile in addition to that of the target, and to generate guidance signals to guide the missile image to the target image, the image means including a blackbody, laser means for irradiating the blackbody to heat it to a temperature at which it emits infrared radiation, and optic means for integrating the radiant image produced by heating the blackbody into the infrared map, wherein the interfacing means is responsive to a guidance signal from the hardware to simulate, in real-time, the response of the missile to the guidance signal.