Remote sensing apparatus of supersonic projectile

• US 6,109,614 A
• Filed: 07/17/1997
• Issued: 08/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tardis Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Tardis Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Ciarcia, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOTALING, JOHN M
• Application Number:
  US08/895,649
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 273/371, 273/372, 367/906, 235/400, 235/412, 434/1, 434/6, 434/9, 434/15
• US Class Current: 273/372
• CPC Class Codes: F41J 5/06 Acoustic hit-indicating systems, i.e. detecting of shock waves F41J5/056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/14 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/22 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/28 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations

Abstract

A remote targeting apparatus and method comprising surrounding a projectile target with a sensor array, computing projectile impact data, transmitting the data receiving the data at a controller; and displaying information corresponding to the data. RF transmission/reception is performed, most preferably at a frequency of between approximately 902 and 928 MHz, with the controller having RF Faraday cage shielding and collision avoidance being employed to permit multiple sensor arrays to operate in a vicinity of one another. Projectile impact locations within twelve inches of the center of the projectile target are calculated to an average RMS accuracy of less than approximately fifty thousandths of an inch, directly in an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system. Velocity is also determined via an additional sensor at a predetermined distance from the sensor array which measures a difference in time between the projectile passing the additional sensor and the sensor array. The preferred sensor array has at least two pairs of acoustical sensors, with an additional acoustical transducer orthogonal to the two pairs.

Claims

1. A remote sensing apparatus comprising:

a sensor array surrounding a projectile target for sensing a supersonic shock cone prior to a projectile impacting a target, said sensor array comprising at least two pairs of independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors for detecting a single point on the trajectory of said projectile from a single circular wave generated by said supersonic shock cone based on a absolute time differential of each sensor relative to the center of the sensor array, supersonic projectile impact data computation means, and data transmission means; and

a controller comprising data reception means and data display means.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said data transmission and reception means comprise RF data transmission and reception means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said RF data transmission and reception means operate at a frequency of between approximately 902 and 928 MHz.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said controller comprises RF Faraday cage shielding.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said data transmission and reception means comprise collision avoidance means permitting multiple remote targeting apparatus to operate in a vicinity of one another.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said data display means comprises graphical data display means simulating a target and projectile impact locations thereon.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said graphical data display means operates in real-time.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said projectile impact data computation means comprises means for calculating projectile impact locations within twelve inches of a center of said projectile target to an average RMS accuracy of less than approximately fifty thousandths of an inch.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said projectile impact data computation means comprises means for calculating projectile impact locations in an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for determining velocity of the projectile.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said velocity determination means comprises an additional sensor at a predetermined distance from said sensor array which measures a difference in time between the projectile passing said additional sensor and said sensor array.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising means for correcting for velocity dependent variations in projectile shock front characteristics.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising means for correcting for data display means translation, rotation, and resolution differences with respect to said projectile target and said sensor array.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise two pairs of acoustical transducers placed in a plane at cardinal compass points of said projectile target.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise an additional acoustical transducer orthogonal to said two pairs.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said projectile impact data computation means comprises means for computing projectile velocity from data provided by said additional acoustical transducer and a paired acoustical transducer.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said sensors is located within an elbow of a housing.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said housing comprises arms connecting said elbows, which arms and elbows are modular.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise acoustical microphones.

20. A sensor system apparatus for a projectile target for detecting a single point on the trajectory of said projectile from a single circular wave generated by the supersonic shock cone prior to a projectile impacting a target based on a absolute time differential of each sensor relative to the center of the sensor array, said apparatus comprising means for calculating supersonic projectile impact locations within twelve inches of a center of said projectile target to an average RMS accuracy of less than approximately fifty thousandths of in inch.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said apparatus comprises a sensor array surrounding a projectile target for sensing the projectile trajectory prior to said projectile impacting a target, said sensor array comprising at least two independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said sensor array surrounding a projectile target comprises at least two pairs of independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise two pairs of acoustical transducers placed in a plane at cardinal compass points of said projectile target.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise an additional acoustical transducer orthogonal to said two pairs.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein said projectile impact data computation means comprises means for computing projectile velocity from data provided by said additional acoustical transducer and a paired acoustical transducer.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said sensors of said two pairs of acoustical sensors are located within four elbows of a diamond-shaped housing.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein said pairs of acoustical sensors comprise acoustical microphones.

28. The apparatus of claim 20 additionally comprising projectile impact data computation means for calculating projectile impact locations in an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system.

29. The apparatus of claim 20 additionally comprising means for correcting for velocity dependent variations in projectile shock front characteristics.

30. A remote sensing method comprising the steps of:

a) surrounding a projectile target with a sensor array for sensing a supersonic shock cone prior to a projectile impacting a target, the sensor array comprising at least two pairs of independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors for detecting a single point on the trajectory of the projectile from a single circular wave generated by the supersonic shock cone based on a absolute time differential of each sensor relative to the center of the sensor array;

b) computing projectile impact data;

c) transmitting the data;

c) receiving the data at a controller; and

e) displaying information corresponding to the data.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein transmitting and receiving is done by RF.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein transmitting and receiving occurs at a frequency of between approximately 902 and 928 MHz.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein receiving occurs at a controller comprising RF Faraday cage shielding.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein transmitting and receiving comprising avoiding collisions to permit multiple sensor arrays to operate in a vicinity of one another.

35. The method of claim 30 wherein displaying comprises graphically simulating a target and projectile impact locations thereon.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein displaying occurs in real-time.

37. The method of claim 30 wherein computing comprises the step of calculating projectile impact locations within twelve inches of a center of the projectile target to an average RMS accuracy of less than approximately fifty thousandths of an inch.

38. The method of claim 30 wherein computing comprises the step of calculating projectile impact locations in an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system.

39. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of determining velocity of the projectile.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein determining velocity comprises employing an additional sensor at a predetermined distance from the sensor array which measures a difference in time between the projectile passing the additional sensor and the sensor array.

41. The method of claim 30 additionally comprising the step of correcting for velocity dependent variations in projectile shock front characteristics.

42. The method of claim 30 additionally comprising the step of correcting for data display translation, rotation, and resolution differences with respect to the projectile target and the sensor array.

43. The method of claim 30 wherein the surrounding step comprises providing two pairs of acoustical transducers placed in a plane at cardinal compass points of the projectile target.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein in the surrounding step the pairs of acoustical sensors comprise an additional acoustical transducer orthogonal to the two pairs.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein computing comprises the step of computing projectile velocity from data provided by the additional acoustical transducer and a paired acoustical transducer.

46. The method of claim 30 wherein in the surrounding step each of the sensors is located within an elbow of a housing.

47. The method of claim 46 wherein in the surrounding step the housing comprises arms connecting the elbows, which arms and elbows are modular.

48. The method of claim 30 wherein in the surrounding step the pairs of acoustical sensors comprise acoustical microphones.

49. A sensor method for a projectile target, for detecting a single point on the trajectory of the projectile from a single circular wave generated by the supersonic shock cone prior to a projectile impacting a target based on a absolute time differential of each sensor relative to the center of the sensor array, the method comprising calculating supersonic projectile impact locations within twelve inches of a center of the projectile target to an average RMS accuracy of less than approximately fifty thousandths of an inch.

50. The method of claim 49 additionally comprising the step of surrounding a projectile target with a sensor array comprising at least two independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein in the surrounding step the sensor array comprises at least two pairs of independent orthogonally matched acoustical sensors.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein in the surrounding step the pairs of acoustical sensors comprise two pairs of acoustical transducers placed in a plane at cardinal compass points of the projectile target.

53. The method of claim 51 wherein in the surrounding step the pairs of acoustical sensors comprise an additional acoustical transducer orthogonal to the two pairs.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein the calculating step comprises computing projectile velocity from data provided by the additional acoustical transducer and a paired acoustical transducer.

55. The method of claim 52 wherein in the surrounding step the sensors of the two pairs of acoustical sensors are located within four elbows of a diamond-shaped housing.

56. The method of claim 51 wherein in the surrounding step the pairs of acoustical sensors comprise acoustical microphones.

57. The method of claim 49 wherein calculating comprises calculating projectile impact locations in an orthogonal Cartesian coordinate system.

58. The method of claim 49 additionally comprising the step of correcting for velocity dependent variations in projectile shock front characteristics.