Low-Cost, Add-On Guidance and Control Concepts for Artillery Projectiles or Rockets

The GPS position data may be used effectively for guidance and tracking of munitions. Along with this advancement in the GPS-based guidance technology, advent of low-cost hand-held terminals for personal and data comunications offers the prospect of mid-course correction of munitions in flight from a ground-based control station. Low-cost implementation of both the GPS receiver and guidance data link is made possible as high-scale integration of microwave circuit functions on GaAs chips becomes an established practice. Hittite Microwave Corporation has pioneered in the development of highly integrated microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) chips for proximity fuzes, GPS frequency translators and command receivers for gun-fired munitions subjected to high-G setback force. In addition to MMIC designs, Hittite has developed a novel concept for implementing IFF functions on munitions using guidance and/or fuze transmitters. These MMIC-based system concepts may be cabined to implement a method of terminal guidance of munitions in flight by a man-portable (hand-carried) telemetry transmitter coded with target position data. This function may be integrated with the fuze and IFF systems on board the munition for precision fuzing and prevention of fratercide. The proposed system concept relies on the GPS translator on- board for location and tracking of the munition, correction of impact position by means of the position data transmitted from the ground via a telemetry link, and the fuze transmitter for IFF and detonation. Anticipated Benefits/Potential Applications - The proposed program will produce a large number of by-products with potential applications in commercial sectors. The data-link portion of the proposed system, for example, will be directly applicable to spread spectrum communications in the 2.4 GHz band. The ID system will find applications in security/surveillance systems.