Process and apparatus for target or position reconnaissance

• US 6,211,816 B1
• Filed: 09/29/1998
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Diehl Stiftung & Company KG (Diehl VA Systeme Stiftung & Company KG)
• Original Assignee: Diehl Stiftung & Company KG (Diehl VA Systeme Stiftung & Company KG)
• Inventors: Westphal, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Issing, Gregory C.
• Application Number:
  US09/162,978
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.02, 342/357.03, 342/357.08, 342/357.09, 342/62, 342/63, 342/64
• US Class Current: 342/357.24
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 3/02 using an independent line of sight
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 12/365 Projectiles transmitting information to a remote location using optical or electronic means F42B12/385 takes precedence

Abstract

Items of relative target location information (19) which are obtained on board a platform serving as a sensor carrier (13) for target or position reconnaissance are combined, with association with the navigation satellite system time (34), with items of absolute mission location information (25) which are obtained on board the sensor carrier (13) from the satellite navigation orbit data (22), in order to obtain absolute target position data in which however, due to the system, there is still contained the absolute residual error of the order of magnitude of some ten meters, from the satellite-aided mission location determination. In order that the absolute target position data can also be made still more precise later, for effective use of the artillery (27), at a geodetically accurately known reception location (28) the deviation (33) between the location coordinates (32) and the items of reception location information (29) obtained on different platforms (13) and/or at different times and put into intermediate storage can also still be corrected at a later time by the deviations (33) associated in respect of system time, in order to obtain absolute target position data (36) which are independent of the satellite navigation residual error, for example for comparing the knowledge from the different, even time-displaced reconnaissance missions, for controlling the artillery (27).

Claims

1. An artillery guidance apparatus for target positional reconnaissance through items of target information obtained on board of a carrier (13) equipped with sensors (14), said sensors obtaining items of said target information;

a navigational receiver (20) for obtaining items of absolute reconnaissance mission location information the items of target location information (19) and mission location information (25) being transmitted during said internal satellite system time period (34) into a mission memory (26) at said remote location (28) said items of target information and items of absolute mission location information being operatively associated with each other over a period of an internal system time (34) of a plurality of navigation satellites (23), the items of absolute mission location information (25) being compensated upon completion of the mission with deviations (33) in information satellite navigational deviation and current satellite system time stored in a corrective memory (35) at a remote location (28) during said period of internal satellite system time (34) with regard to a comparison between received location coordinates (32) and items of received location information (29) instantaneously delivered through said navigational receiver (20) from said satellites (23).