Two-axis mirror stabilization assembly
First Claim
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1. In an optical stabilizing system having an assembly for tracking a command line of sight and rejecting environmental perturbations, the line of sight being chosen in accordance with an input command signal, the assembly comprising:
- a mirror;
a rigid block;
means flexibly coupling the mirror to the rigid block, the flexible coupling means providing two axes of freedom for the mirror;
gyroscopic means mounted to the rigid block, the spin axis of the gyroscopic means being aligned along the line of sight, the gyroscopic means providing a gyro rate signal about two axes perpendicular to the line of sight;
means for torquing the mirror;
means for sensing the movement of the mirror and providing a feedback pickoff signal corresponding thereto; and
control means for receiving the command signal, the gyro rate signal and the feedback pickoff signal and, based on these signals, providing a torquer signal to the torquing means for torquing the mirror;
whereby the torquer signal is responsive for cancelling the environmental perturbations and torques the mirror only to track the command line of sight.
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Abstract
To stabilize the line-of-sight of an optical image relative to a commanded line-of-sight, a stabilization system consisting of a mirror having two limited degrees of freedom, a two axis gyroscope having its two sensitive axes perpendicular to the LOS, a pickoff sensor feeding back mirror angular position, servo compensators that provide mirror torque commands to a two axis mirror torquer, and the electronic hardware that ties these components together is used.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. In an optical stabilizing system having an assembly for tracking a command line of sight and rejecting environmental perturbations, the line of sight being chosen in accordance with an input command signal, the assembly comprising:
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a mirror; a rigid block; means flexibly coupling the mirror to the rigid block, the flexible coupling means providing two axes of freedom for the mirror; gyroscopic means mounted to the rigid block, the spin axis of the gyroscopic means being aligned along the line of sight, the gyroscopic means providing a gyro rate signal about two axes perpendicular to the line of sight; means for torquing the mirror; means for sensing the movement of the mirror and providing a feedback pickoff signal corresponding thereto; and control means for receiving the command signal, the gyro rate signal and the feedback pickoff signal and, based on these signals, providing a torquer signal to the torquing means for torquing the mirror;
whereby the torquer signal is responsive for cancelling the environmental perturbations and torques the mirror only to track the command line of sight. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In an optical stabilizing system having an assembly including a mirror, a method of torquing the mirror to track a command line of sight relative to a moving reference and to track the moving reference and to reject environmental perturbations, the method comprising the steps of:
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flexibly coupling the mirror to a rigid block so as to provide two axes of freedom for the mirror; mounting a gyroscopic means to the rigid block; stabilizing the line of sight relative to an input command signal; aligning the spin axis of the gyroscopic means along the line of sight, thereby enabling the gyroscopic means to provide a gyro rate signal about two axes perpendicular to the line of sight; sensing the movement of the mirror and providing a feedback signal corresponding thereto; transforming the input command signal, the gyro rate signal and the feedback signal into a plurality of estimated states; combining the estimated states to produce an output torquer signal responsive to canceling the environmental perturbations and tracking the line of sight; and torquing the mirror in accordance to the torquer signal to track the command and stabilize line of sight. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification