MEMS INS for Pointing and Aiming Control of Large Caliber Indirect Fire Artillery

The objective of the Phase II project is to develop, test and demonstrate a compact and rugged system prototype for pointing/aiming control and ground navigation of large caliber indirect fire artillery. The major tasks of Phase II include the systemhardware fabrication and installation, refinement of pointing and navigation algorithms, and integration of all necessary modules for building a practical system. During Phase II, first, AGNC will perform the work for mounting and alignment of the IMU onthe artillery barrel. This task includes the ruggedization of the IMU units and the system package, mounting of the IMU units and the system package, and compensation of the misalignment between the IMU body axis and the barrel boresight. To eliminate thecable wiring on the artillery barrel, AGNC will build an RF data link for data transmission from the IMUs to the navigation processor. Next, the optimal multiple IMU configuration, FDI processing algorithms, and optimal measurement estimation will befurther refined and implemented. Then, the artillery navigator pointing accuracy and ground navigation accuracy will be further enhanced through the integration of multiple aiding sensors. Finally, laboratory test and artillery-based field test will becarried out for system performance verification. In addition to artillery pointing/aiming control and ground navigation, the compact and rugged navigation system developed in this project finds wide applications in the industrial and commercial sector,such as guidance, navigation, and control of small land vehicles, micro robots, autonomous land and underwater vehicles, and other pointing/aiming and positioning applications.