US 5,456,157 AGranted

Weapon aiming system

AssigneeComputing Devices Canada Ltd.

InventorsJames H. Lougheed, Mark Wardell, Daniel R. Sheney

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Abstract

A machine gun unit comprises a machine gun mounted to a support by a mounting permitting pivoting movement of the machine gun relative to the support in azimuth and/or elevation. Angle encoders provide position signals representing angular displacement of the machine gun relative to the support. An aiming system comprises a sensor, for example a CCD sensor, which provides a video signal representing a field of view for the aiming system, a display device for displaying the field of view, a manual input interface, a graphics artifact generator, and a digital signal processor (DSP). The DSP monitors the outputs of the angle encoders and controls the graphics artifact generator to combine the output of the graphics artifact generator with the output of the CCD sensor for display by the display device. Various graphics artifacts can be provided. Masks may be provided for delimiting field of fire. A cursor may be repositioned to reflect superelevation requirements. Target motion and opposing fire can be detected and highlighted. Tracers can be simulated. The weapon can also be used for surveillance, either alone or as part of a weapon system comprising a plurality of the weapons and a central command post.

Claims3

Dependent claims

A weapon unit comprising:

a support;
a gun mounted to the support by a mounting permitting pivotal movement of the gun relative to the support in at least one of azimuth and elevation;
angular position sensing means for detecting said pivotal movement and providing an angular position signal representing angular displacement of the gun relative to the support;
sensor means for providing a scene signal comprising a series of frames each representing a field of view of the sensor means, and a frame synchronization signal;
input means for inputting a signal other than the angular position signal;
display means for displaying an image of the field of view frame by frame;
artifact memory means for storing data corresponding to a said frame;
video generation means for generating, from the data stored in the artifact memory, a graphics artifact signal;
means for combining the scene signal and the graphics artifact signal and supplying the combined signals to the display means to superimpose the graphics artifact on the image of the scene displayed;
and
signal processor means for repeatedly writing into said memory data words each representing one of a plurality of pixels which, when displayed by said display means, form a graphics artifact, the signal processor means being responsive to the angular position signal, to the frame synchronization signal, and to the other signal to modify the stored data words to effect changes in the graphics artifact relative to the scene in direct dependence upon the angular displacement of the gun relative to the support, wherein each data word representing a graphics artifact pixel has a bit having a predetermined state different from that of other words in the memory, the video generation means detecting the state of such bit and controlling the combining means to substitute graphics artifact pixels for scene pixels in dependence upon said state.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.