ELECTRO-OPTICAL/FLUIDIC GUIDANCE FOR KINETIC ENERGY PROJECTILES

ONE APPROACH TO COMMANDING KINETIC ENERGY PROJECTILES IS TO GUIDE THE PROJECTILE TO THE TARGET VICINITY BY A CODED LASER BEAM. A RELATIVELY NARROW FIELD-OF-VIEW STRAPPED-DOWN SEEKER THEN ACQUIRES THE TARGET ANDCLOSES IN FOR THE KILL. A LIGHTWEIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI)/NUCLEAR INSENSITIVE, ULTRA-RUGGED, NO-MOVING PARTS, NONELECTRONIC, FLUIDIC ELECTRO-OPTICAL ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICE IS BEING DESIGNED, CONSTRUCTED, AND TESTED THAT IS EXPECTED TO BE CAPABLE OF CONVERTING A LASER GUIDANCE SIGNAL DIRECTLY INTO PROPULSIVE THRUST WITHOUT NEED FOR ELECTRONIC INTERFACES. THE DEVICE USES THE PHOTOACOUSTIC EFFORT TO CONVERT ELECTRO-OPTICAL ENERGY INTO AN ACOUSTIC WAVE THAT IS PROCESSED WITH FLUIDICS. THE DEVICE SENSES AND PROCESSESENCODED LASER SIGNALS AND CONVERTS THEM INTO FLUID POWER SIGNALS THAT COULD DIRECTLY DRIVE CONVENTIONAL (MECHANICAL/PNEUMATIC) OR ADVANCED (FLUIDIC, NO-MOVING-PARTS) THE THRUSTER ATTITUDE AND DIRECTIONAL CONTROL SYSTEMS. THIS FLUIDIC DEVICE MIGHT ALSO BE ABLE TO OPERATE ON OPTICALLY ENCODED SEEKER COMMANDS, RESULTING IN AN ESSENTIALLY NO-MOVING-PARTS PROJECTILE. A DUAL-AXIS, HIGH EFFICIENCY (>90% DIVERTOR/THRUSTER IS BEING DESIGNED THAT CAN BE DIRECTLY OPERATED BY THE PROCESSED PHOTO-ACOUSTIC SIGNALS. BY ELIMINATING MOVING PARTS ANDMOST OF THE ELECTRONICS FROM THE PROJECTILE, IT WOULD BE VERY LIGHT WEIGHT AND HARDENED AGAINST ALMOST ALL EMI AND NUCLEAR TREATS. IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY RUGGED IN HIGH G ENVIRONMENTS, RELIABLE AND COST EFFECTIVE DUE TO THE LOW-COST FLUIDIC TECHNOLOGIES USED.