Education and demonstration – Organized armed or unarmed conflict or shooting
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-20
2001-09-04
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Organized armed or unarmed conflict or shooting
C434S016000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283756
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to combat training systems and, more particularly, to combat training systems wherein a first mobile platform engages, targets and fires a simulated ordinance towards a second mobile platform, wherein the second mobile platform may maneuver to evade being hit by the simulated ordinance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Combat and maneuver training systems are used to provide valuable experience to military personnel, such as crews of armored vehicles. One system, known as the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System, or MILES and MILES 2000™ (Cubic Defense Systems, San Diego, Calif.), is a laser-based training system in which military personnel fire infrared “bullets” as adjuncts to the weapons and vehicles that they would use in actual combat. The simulated fire events cause realistic audio/visual effects and “casualties”. The exercise events and casualties can be recorded, replayed and analyzed in detail during so-called After Action Reviews (AARs).
This particular type of combat and maneuver training system is susceptible to various types of manipulation. For example, the infrared sensors which detect the incoming infrared “bullets” can be fooled by painting the simulated battleground with light of the expected wavelength, thereby negating the precision accounted for in the digital date. Also by example, by simply obscuring the field of view of the sensor an incoming “hit” may not be recorded as such. It can be appreciated that over-zealous trainees, seeking to score well during a simulated combat exercise, may be able to significantly skew the results in their favor, while at the same time also lessening the value of the training exercise. In general, the detection of such manipulations can be difficult to accomplish.
It can be further appreciated that this type of training system requires the use of additional hardware (e.g., additional lasers, detectors and support hardware), thus incurring increases in cost, complexity and deployment logistics. For those cases where the training hardware follows the unit into the field, the additional hardware must be securely packed, shipped and accounted for. Before use, the additional lasers, detectors and the like must also be installed on the vehicles that will take part in the training exercise (e.g., tanks and other armored vehicles).
Furthermore, by using laser diodes to simulate weapons flyout, the inherent beam dispersion or beam divergence may not be consistent with the actual dispersion of the round being simulated. For example, the beam divergence for the training system laser diode may actually be several times the typical Circular Error Probability (CEP) of a particular “smart” weapon whose fire is being simulated.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object and advantage of this invention to provide an improved combat maneuver training system that overcomes the foregoing and other problems.
It is a second object and advantage of this invention to provide an improved combat maneuver training system wherein a first platform, the “shooter”, transmits information to a second, mobile “target” platform, the information including the position of the first platform, weapon flyout and other data, thereby enabling the second platform to calculate whether it has maneuvered in such a way as to evade an incoming simulated round.
It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide an improved combat maneuver training system wherein the mobile target platform transmits its position to the shooter after detecting that it has been illuminated by the shooter's laser rangefinder, enabling the shooter to calculate an impact point for its simulated ordinance.
It is another object and advantage of this invention to provide an improved combat maneuver training system wherein two platforms that are engaged in a simulated shooter/target relationship transmit GPS-derived position and other information between themselves in order to determine whether the target platform has successfully maneuvered to evade a simulated ordinance fired by the shooter, wherein the transmitted information can be monitored by a control center, stored, and subsequently used to replay the engagement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other problems are overcome and the objects of the invention are realized by methods and apparatus in accordance with embodiments of this invention.
A method is disclosed for operating a combat maneuver training system of a type that includes a shooter platform and a target platform that are constructed and operated in accordance with embodiments of this invention. A first step of the method is performed at the shooter platform, and operates, preferably, an existing tactical laser such as a rangefinder, to determine if the target platform is within range of a shooter platform weapon. At the target platform, the operation of the rangefinder is detected, and a controller of the target platform transmits a current location of the target platform to the shooter platform. The current location is preferably obtained from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. At the shooter platform, and for a case where the target platform is found to be in range, a controller calculates at least an impact point of a simulated ordinance on the target platform and an impact time, and then transmits at least this information to the target platform. Meanwhile, an operator of the target platform, having detected that the target platform was the subject of a rangefinding operation, assumes that the target platform is about to be fired on, and begins to maneuver the target platform to evade the simulated ordinance. At a time corresponding to the calculated impact time the target platform transmits an updated current location of the target platform to the shooter platform and, based at least in part on the updated current location and on a type of shooter platform weapon, the status of the target platform (e.g. destroyed, disabled, fully operational) is determined.
Each of the steps of transmitting may include a step of receiving the transmission at a control center, and then the method further includes a step of storing the received transmission in a memory of the control center for later recall and analysis, and/or operating a user interface of the control center for visualizing at least the locations of the shooter and target platforms, and the status of the shooter platform.
All of the various systems and subsystems used to provide the foregoing functionality may be found already installed within certain armored vehicles and other types of mobile platforms, thereby eliminating the need to provide, maintain and store additional hardware (e.g., additional lasers, detectors and support hardware) for use only during training. These already existing systems and subsystems are, however, used in a novel and non-obvious way in order to provide an improved maneuver training system.
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Carmody Thomas A.
Danckwerth Thomas M.
Krohn William T.
Cheng Joe H.
Ohlandt Greeley Ruggiero & Perle LLP
The B.F. Goodrich Company
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