US 6,549,872 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for firing simulation

AssigneeSTN Atlas Electronik GmbH

InventorsKarsten Bollweg, Anton Galhuber

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A first laser beam is transmitted through the actuation of the gun trigger, the trajectory of the virtual projectile is calculated, and the deviations of the trajectory from the target direction at the firing time are determined. The first laser beam is pivoted corresponding to the trajectory deviations, and the transit time of the laser pulses of the first laser beam reflected by the target is measured, and used to determine the target range. For this target range, the trajectory of the fired virtual projectile is calculated, and compared to the time that has passed between the firing time and the reception of the reflected laser pulses. If the two match within a tolerance range, a second laser beam comprising encoded laser pulses is transmitted in the transmission direction of the first laser beam, which is received at the target, where the impact damage is calculated.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method for simulating a shot fired from a gun for ballistic projectiles at a target, preferably an earthbound, moving or standing target, comprising:

aiming a sight, whose line of sight extends parallel to a bore axis of the gun, at a target with a setting of a horizontal course (lead) and a vertical course (elevation) of the line of sight from the target;
and then manually activating a trigger on the gun to initiate a simulated firing of the gun by the following steps:
a) transmitting a first laser beam including a plurality of laser pulses;
b) calculating a trajectory of a projectilefictively fired by the gun
c) continuously determining deviations of the trajectory from the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time;
d) pivoting the first laser beam by pivot-angle values that correspond to the trajectory deviations;
e) measuring a transit time of the laser pulses that are reflected by the target and
f) using in the transit time to determine the target range (r);
g1) either comparing the time that has passed between the firing time and the reception of the reflected laser pulses to the flight time of the fictively fired projectile calculated for the target range (r), or
g2) comparing actual pivot-angle values of the first laser beam relative to the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, with the actual pivot-angle values being associated with the target range (r), to the theoretical pivot-angle values of the first laser beam relative to the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, with the theoretical pivot-angle values having been calculated from the trajectory data for the target range (r);
h) if the compared values match within a tolerance range, transmitting a second laser beam comprising encoded laser pulses is transmitted in the transmission direction last traversed by the first laser beam, with the encoding of the second laser beam containing information about firing data of the gun, including the type of ammunition and weapon, and the identity of the gunner;
i) and at the target, when the second laser beam is received by at least one detector disposed on the surface of the target, calculating impact damage from the position of the receiving detector on the target.

9 more elements

An apparatus for simulating a shot fired from a gun for ballistic projectiles at a target, preferably an earthbound, moving or standing target, said apparatus comprising:

a gun having a sight whose line of sight is permanently set parallel to a bore axis of the gun, and a trigger for initiating a fictively fired projectile;
a laser transmitter, which is fixedly coupled to the gun, for transmitting a first laser beam, comprising laser pulses, and a second laser beam, comprising encoded laser pulses, with a temporal offset and in the same direction as the first laser beam;
a control unit that is selectively activated by the trigger, and upon being activated, causes the laser transmitter to transmit the first laser beam;
a first detector, which is permanently connected to the gun, for receiving the laser pulses of the first laser beam reflected at the target;
a transit-time measuring element, which is disposed downstream of the first detector, for measuring the transit time of the reflected laser pulses of the first laser beam;
a range calculator for calculating the target range (r) from the transit time;
a trajectory calculator, which is connected to the range calculator, for calculating trajectory data of the fictively fired projectile;
a plurality of second detectors, which are distributed over the target surface and configured to receive the second laser beam;
evaluation electronics, which are connected to the second detectors, for calculating impact damage;
a deflection apparatus for pivoting the transmission direction of the laser beams connected to the trajectory calculator, said trajectory calculator being responsive to the transmission of said first laser beam for continuously calculating the deviation of the trajectory from the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, and supplying the calculated deviations as control signals to the deflection apparatus to cause pivoting of the first laser beam by pivoting angles (αz, αx) relative to the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, with the angles corresponding to the control signals;
said trajectory calculator either calculates the flight time of the fictively fired projectile for the target range (r) calculated by the range calculator, and compares it to the time that has passed between the firing time and the reception of the reflected laser pulses of the first laser beam, or uses the trajectory data to calculate the theoretical pivot angles of the first laser beam relative to the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, and then compares the calculated angles to the actual pivot angles (αz, αx) of the first laser beam relative to the instantaneous line-of-sight orientation at the firing time, and if the angles match within a tolerance range, generates an activation signal for transmitting the second laser beam in the transmission direction last traversed by the first laser beam.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/907,601Filed 19 Jul 2001
Priority: DE 100 50 69113 Oct 2000
Published: US 2002/0045999 A118 Apr 2002
Granted: 15 Apr 2003
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

F41G 3/2655
For simulating the firing of a gun or the trajectory of a projectile: in which the light beam is sent from the weapon to the target
F41G 3/2683
For simulating the firing of a gun or the trajectory of a projectile: with reflection of the beam on the target back to the weapon
F41G
Weapon sights