Trajectory Correction Flight Control System using Pulsejet on an Artillery Rocket

Abstract

A trajectory correction flight control system is small and durable, and consists of a lateral pulsejet ring mounted on the rocket body. The pulsejet ring consists of a finite number of individual pulsejets. Each pulsejet on the ring imparts a single, short-duration, large force to the rocket in the plane normal to the rocket axis of symmetry. Lateral pulsejets are used by flight control system to assist the rocket to follow a pre-specified (command) trajectory. The trajectory-tracking flight control system computes the position error by comparing the measured position of the rocket with the pre-specified trajectory. In actual application, the position of the rocket could be measured using in-house inertial measurement unit (IMU) or by ground-based-tracking radar system located at the firing site. A study has been undertaken to explore the feasibility of reducing the impact point dispersion of a routinely-used artillery rocket using lateral pulsejets coupled to a trajectory correction flight control system. Simulation studies have been conducted to arrive at tuning parameters, namely the tracking error window size, the required elapsed time between the pulsejet firings and the angle of tolerance between the tracking error and the individual pulsejet force. Further, the robustness of the methodology wrt measurement noise has also been evaluated.

A comparative analysis of contemporary 155 mm artillery projectiles

“…This design was explored in 2008 to reduce impact point dispersion. The pulsejet ring was made up of a series of individual pulsejets, which would be mounted onto the rocket body (Gupta et al, 2008). The lateral pulsejets would assist the flight control system to follow a previously programed trajectory.…”

Optimization of Trajectory Correction Scheme for Guided Mortar Projectiles

“…Firing accuracy of the guided projectiles can be dramatically improved by outfitting with a suitable trajectory correction system. The commonly used tools are impulse thrusters [1][2][3], inertial loads [4,5], drag brakes [6,7], fixed canards [8][9][10], and moveable canards [11][12][13][14][15].…”

Nanotechnological Enhancement of Infrared Detectors by Plasmon Resonance in Transparent Conductive Oxide Nanoparticles

“…New mortar shells technology [2] and [3], developed in the form of missiles with homing heads, usually depends either on laser illumination of the target for its guidance or an autonomous selfguided heat-seeking mode, as in the case of terminal infrared homing. When using terminal guidance for projectiles the main goal is to develop the recognition of signals reflected from illuminated targets, to hit and kill, to a level of a reliable technical characteristic in the required chain.…”

“…This belongs to the field of light management, which is one of the most significant issues with photodetectors generally, regardless of the wavelength range. It is of especial importance for the new homing heads utilizing either laser-illuminated or self-guided missiles and projectiles technology [2] and [3].…”