GB1495166A - Missile guidance systems - Google Patents

Abstract

1495166 Missile guidance systems ELLIOT BROS (LONDON) Ltd 3 March 1976 [21 May 1975 29 Jan 1976] 21928/75 Heading H4F The system includes an optical system mounted in the missile for forming images of at least two sub-fields of view which together form a single unbroken field of view ahead of the missile. The images are presented to a television camera in such a way that the images appear one above the other on a remote television screen at the missile control station. In the normal attitude of the missile the field of view may include the horizon. Each sub-field may subtend an angle of 2 degrees vertically and 10-20 degrees horizontally. In one arrangement there are four sub-fields LA, LB, RA, RB, the two inner subfields overlapping slightly. Lenses 4, 8 direct images of the associated pairs of sub-fields on to respective fibre optic bundles 5, 9. Each bundle is divided in two and the four output faces are arranged one above the other adjacent the fibre optic face plate 6 of a television camera 7 so that the images appear similarly stacked on the television receiver screen. The lenses may be mounted behind recessed windows (10, 11) on either side of the nose of the missile, Fig. 3A-3C (not shown). The image of a narrow sub-field, e.g. subtending 2¢ degrees, directly ahead of the missile may also be passed to the camera via a fibre optic bundle and may be associated with a lens system so that the image is reproduced to a larger scale than that of the other images. Means may also be provided for developing, when required, an enlarged image of part of the display, e.g. by altering the scale of the display over the selected portion or by reducing a sub-field of view.