Weapon effect simulators

Details Weapon effect simulators Weapon effect simulators

1981-01-08

1983-02-15

Grieb, William H.

Education and demonstration

Organized armed or unarmed conflict or shooting

Gunnery

273310, F41G 326

Patent

active

043739164

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to weapon effect simulators.


BACKGROUND ART

It is known to use a beam of electromagnetic radiation (typically from a laser) during simulated operation of a weapon for training purposes. In one type of system (U.K. patent specifications Nos. 1,228,143; 1,228,144; 1,439,612 and 1,451,192), the beam of radiation is pointed in the same direction as the weapon (for example, a gun) at the time of `firing` the ammunition (a shell or bullet) with adjustment for such factors as aim-off if appropriate. In another type (U.K. patent specifications Nos. 1,300,941 and 1,300,942) the beam is pointed to intersect continuously the path that the ammunition (for example, a missile) would follow in a live firing. In either case, the result is that the beam of radiation is directed at the point in space occupied by the ammunition when it reaches the vicinity of the target.
Such systems basically involve a device, commonly known as a projector, for generating, and if necessary orienting, the beam of radiation, and another device, known as a detector, for detecting incidence of the radiation on the target. The detector may be mounted on the target itself, or it may be associated with the projector, the radiation being reflected from the target by a retro-reflector mounted thereon.
In known systems, the projector has been arranged to generate radiation in the form of pulses of very short duration and relatively high peak power. Consequently, the detector (a photo-cell coupled to an amplifier) has been designed essentially to detect each pulse of radiation as an individual, discrete entity. Because of the abrupt nature of the pulses, the bandwidth of the detector amplifier has to be relatively large to ensure reliable detection of a pulse, which in turn limits to one the number of photo-cells which can be connected to an amplifier if an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio is to be maintained. In practice, a target needs to be fitted with at least four photo-cells to ensure detection of radiation from any direction around the target, and each of these photo-cells requires its own sensitive, stable, wide-bandwidth (and therefore expensive) amplifier.


DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a weapon effect simulator having a projector arranged to project a beam of electromagnetic radiation during simulated firing of a weapon and a detector arranged to detect incidence of said radiation thereupon, wherein:
said projector is arranged to generate at least one burst of radiation for each said firing, said burst being of predetermined duration and being modulated at a predetermined frequency; and
said detector includes frequency-selective means tuned to a frequency harmonically related to said predetermined frequency and having a pass band dependent upon said predetermined duration.
The radiation is detected by detection of the overall burst and its modulation (which can, for example, be pulse modulation or continuous-wave modulation), rather than by separate detection of individual pulses (in the case of pulse modulation). The frequency-selective means is conveniently tuned to said predetermined frequency.
The pass band of the frequency-selective means may be substantially equal to twice the reciprocal of said predetermined duration. By making this duration relatively long (for example, one millisecond), the pass band can be made very narrow (only 2 kHz), thereby diminishing noise considerably, to the extent that several photo-cells can be coupled in parallel. Furthermore the peak power that must be radiated for a given signal-to-noise ratio is substantially reduced, permitting the use, for example, of low peak power, higher mean power devices such as double heterostructure lasers and small source light emitting diodes.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

A weapon effect simulator in accordance with this invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 depicts an attacking soldier and a targ

REFERENCES:
patent: 3104478 (1963-09-01), Strauss et al.
patent: 3257741 (1966-06-01), Cameron et al.
patent: 3434226 (1969-03-01), Schaller
patent: 3701206 (1972-10-01), Ormiston
patent: 3832791 (1974-09-01), Robertson
patent: 3918714 (1975-11-01), Ceccaroni
patent: 3995376 (1976-12-01), Kimble et al.
patent: 4054290 (1977-10-01), Villa
"Lasers to keep GIs on target", Electronics, Jun. 23, 1977, pp. 96, 97.

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