Guidance, navigation and control for ballistic projectiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10942013-B2
Application number	US-201916754822-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2019
Priority date	Aug 31, 2018
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A system and method to aid in guidance, navigation and control of a guided projectile including a precision guidance munition assembly. The system and method receive position estimates of the guided projectile from a guiding sensor, determine predicted impact points of the guided projectile relative to a target based on the position estimates, determine miss distances of the guided projectile relative to the target, determine smoothed miss distances based, at least in part, on the determined miss distances, and process updated steering commands to steer the guided projectile based on the smoothed miss distances.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A precision guidance munition assembly for a guided projectile, comprising:
a canard assembly coupled to the precision guidance munition assembly including at least one canard, wherein the at least one canard is moveable;
at least one guiding sensor coupled to the precision guidance munition assembly; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carried by the precision guidance munition assembly having a set of instructions encoded thereon that when executed by at least one processor operates to aid in guidance, navigation and control of the guided projectile, wherein the set of instructions comprise:
receive a first position estimate of the guided projectile;
determine a first predicted impact point of the guided projectile relative to a target based on the first position estimate;
determine a first miss distance of the guided projectile relative to the target;
receive a second position estimate of the guided projectile from the guiding sensor;
determine a second predicted impact point of the guided projectile relative to the target based on the second position estimate;
determine a second miss distance of the guided projectile relative to the target;
determine a smoothed miss distance based, at least in part, on the first determined miss distance and the second determined miss distance; and
process an updated steering command to command the at least one canard on the canard assembly to steer the guided projectile based on the smoothed miss distance.

2. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one canard includes a first lift canard and a second lift canard.

3. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the at least one canard includes a first roll canard and a second roll canard.

4. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions further include:
utilize a projectile dynamics model to determine at least one of the first predicted impact point and the second predicted impact point.

5. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 4 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a three degree-of-freedom model including, at least in part, a Jacobian reference.

6. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 4 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a three degree-of-freedom model including, at least in part, a drag profile.

7. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 4 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a three degree-of-freedom model including, at least in part, a steering Jacobian reference accounting for, at least in part, steering applied to the guided projectile.

8. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 4 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a five degree-of-freedom model, a six degree-of-freedom model, or
a seven degree-of-freedom model.

9. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first position estimate of the guided projectile is from the guiding sensor.

10. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the guiding sensor is at least one of a laser-guided sensor, electro-optical sensor, imaging sensor, inertial navigation system (INSs), inertial measurement unit (IMUs), and electro-optical sensor.

11. The precision guidance munition assembly of claim 1 , wherein the smoothed miss distance is a weighted miss distance determined by, at least in part, a weighted sum of the first determined miss distance and the second determined miss distance.

12. A method, comprising:
receiving a first position estimate of a guided projectile including a precision guidance munition assembly from a guiding sensor; wherein the precision guidance munition assembly includes a canard assembly including at least one canard wherein the at least one canard is moveable;
determining a first predicted impact point of the guided projectile relative to a target based on the first position estimate;
determining a first miss distance of the guided projectile relative to the target;
receiving a second position estimate of the guided projectile from the guiding sensor;
determining a second predicted impact point of the guided projectile relative to the target based on the second position estimate;
determining a second miss distance of the guided projectile relative to the target;
determining a smoothed miss distance based, at least in part, on the first determined miss distance and the second determined miss distance; and
processing a steering command to command the at least one canard on the canard assembly to steer the guided projectile based on the smoothed miss distance.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one canard includes a first lift canard and a second lift canard.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one canard includes a first roll canard and a second roll canard.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
utilizing a projectile dynamics model to determine the first predicted impact point and the second predicted impact point.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a three degree-of-freedom model including, at least in part, a Jacobian reference and a drag profile.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first predicted impact point and the second predicted impact point are based, at least in part, on an unsteered trajectory of the guided projectile.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the projectile dynamics model is a three degree-of-freedom model including, at least in part, a steering Jacobian reference.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the first predicted impact point and the second predicted impact point are based, at least in part, on a steered trajectory of the guided projectile.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the smoothed miss distance is a weighted miss distance determined by, at least in part, a weighted sum of the first determined miss distance and the second determined miss distance.

Assignees

• Bae Sys Inf & Elect Sys Integ

Inventors

• Zemany Paul D
• Chrobak Matthew F

Classifications

• F41G7/008 Primary

  Combinations of different guidance systems · CPC title

• F41G7/226

  Semi-active homing systems, i.e. comprising a receiver and involving auxiliary illuminating means, e.g. using auxiliary guiding missiles · CPC title

• F42B10/26

  using spin (F42B10/04, F42B10/12, F42B10/14, F42B10/24, F42B14/02 take precedence) · CPC title

• F41G7/36

  using inertial references · CPC title

• F41G7/346

  using global navigation satellite systems, e.g. GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS · CPC title