Interactive weapon targeting system displaying remote sensed image of target area

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11118867-B2
Application number	US-201916728324-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2019
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Sep 14, 2021
Grant date	Sep 14, 2021

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods for determining a predicted impact point of a selected weapon and associated round based on stored ballistic information, provided elevation data, provided azimuth data, and provided position data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a weapon of one or more weapons, wherein each weapon of the one or more weapons has a weapon display;
one or more remote sensors associated with one or more aerial vehicles, wherein at least one remote sensor is configured to provide image metadata of a predicted impact point to the weapon display;
one or more sensor controllers on each of the one or more aerial vehicles configured to direct pointing of the one or more remote sensors; and
a targeting device comprising:
a fire control controller, wherein the fire control controller determines a predicted impact point of the one or more weapons and an associated round, and wherein the fire control controller transmits information on the predicted impact point to the one or more sensor controllers to direct pointing of at least one remote sensor of at least one aerial vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the targeting device further comprises:
a data store having ballistic information associated with the weapon of the one or more weapons and associated rounds.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fire control controller determines the predicted impact point of the one or more weapons based on at least one of: the ballistic information, elevation data received from an inertial measurement unit, azimuth data received from a magnetic compass, and position data received from a position determining component.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:
the inertial measurement unit is in communication with the fire control controller;
the magnetic compass is in communication with the fire control controller; and
the position determining component is in communication with the fire control controller.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the position determining component is a navigation unit.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fire control controller determines the predicted impact point of the one or more weapons based on the ballistic information, elevation data received from an inertial measurement unit, azimuth data received from a magnetic compass, and position data received from a position determining component.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) receiver, wherein the information on the predicted impact point transmitted by the fire control controller is received by the RF receiver.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more aerial vehicles is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the targeting device determines a position and orientation of the one or more weapons and further uses a ballistic lookup table to determine the predicted impact point of the weapon of the plurality of weapons.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the remote sensor is an optical camera.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the optical camera is configured to provide video images for display on the weapon display.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
an environmental condition determiner configured to provide information related to environmental conditions of the surrounding areas of the predicted impact point in order for the fire control controller to determine the predicted impact point.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a ballistic range determiner in communication with the fire control controller, wherein the ballistic range determiner is configured to determine the predicted impact point based on the weapon position, azimuth, elevation, and round type.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fire control controller receives image metadata from the one or more remote sensors, and wherein the image metadata comprises a ground position of a Center Field of View (CFOV) of the remote sensor.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the CFOV is directed at the determined predicted impact point.

Assignees

• Aerovironment Inc

Inventors

• Mcneil John C
• Cox Earl Clyde
• Ueno Makoto
• Ross Jon Andrew

Classifications

• F41G3/02 Primary

  using an independent line of sight · CPC title

• F41G5/14 Primary

  for vehicle-borne guns · CPC title

• F41G3/14 Primary

  Indirect aiming means · CPC title

• F41G3/165

  using a TV-monitor · CPC title

• F41G3/26

  Teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying {(shooting games A63F9/02; light- or radiation-emitting guns F41A33/02; targets therefor F41J; responders, transponders for radar, sonar, lidar G01S13/767, G01S15/74, G01S17/74)} · CPC title