Movement compensation of firearms
AssigneeBAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
InventorsMichael J. Choiniere, John P. Thornton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an example, the firearm includes a firearm sight and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted on the firearm sight. The IMU configured to determine an azimuth jitter and an elevation jitter corresponding to a movement of the firearm, compute an average response of the azimuth jitter and an average response of the elevation jitter, and generate an output signal to compensate for the movement of the firearm based on the average response of the azimuth jitter and the average response of the elevation jitter. The firearm further includes a firing actuation unit communicatively coupled to the IMU to delay a fire command based on the output signal.
Claims13
A firearm comprising:
- a firearm sight fixed to the firearm;
- an inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted on the firearm sight, the inertial measurement unit (IMU) having movement detection elements which detect movement of the firearm from a set firing position of the firearm and continuously transmit movement signals to the inertial measurement unit (IMU), the inertial measurement unit (IMU) configured to be activated by an operator to:
- determine a current aim point of the firearm based on a current azimuth angle and a current elevation angle which result from the movement of the firearm from the set firing position, the current azimuth angle being a measure of the movement of the firearm in a horizontal plane and the current elevation angle being a measure of the movement of the firearm in a vertical plane and based on the movement signals;
- compute an average azimuth angle based on the current azimuth angle, and compute an average elevation angle based on the current elevation angle, an average pointing direction of the firearm is computed based on the average azimuth angle and the average elevation angle;
- and
- generate an output signal based on a comparison between the current aim point of the firearm and the average pointing direction of the firearm;
- a firearm trigger which is triggered to issue a fire command;
- and
- a firing actuation unit communicatively coupled to the firearm trigger and the inertial measurement unit (IMU) to delay the fire command based on the output signal.
A method for compensating movement of a firearm, the method comprising:
- providing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) mounted on a firearm sight which is fixed to the firearm;
- detecting movement of the firearm from a set firing position of the firearm with movement detection elements which continuously transmit movement signals to the inertial measurement unit (IMU), the inertial measurement unit being activated by an operator;
- determining, by the inertial measurement unit MU′, a current aim point of the firearm based on a current azimuth angle and a current elevation angle which result from the movement of the firearm from the set firing position, the current azimuth angle being a measure of the movement of the firearm in a horizontal plane and the current elevation angle being a measure of the movement of the firearm in a vertical plane and based on the movement signals;
- computing, by the inertial measurement unit (IMU), an average azimuth angle based on the current azimuth angle, and computing an average elevation angle based on the current elevation angle, an average pointing direction of the firearm is computed based on the average azimuth angle and the average elevation angle;
- generating, with the inertial measurement unit (IMU), an output signal based on a comparison between the current aim point of the firearm and the average pointing direction of the firearm;
- actuating a firearm trigger to issue a fire command;
- and
- delaying, with a firing actuation unit, the fire command to compensate for the movement of the firearm, based on the output signal, the firing actuation unit being communicatively coupled to the inertial measurement unit MU′ and the firearm trigger.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.