System analysis and design of a low-cost micromechanical seeker system

Precision guided targeting systems have been in use by the U.S. military for the last half-century. The desire for high targeting accuracies while maintaining minimal collateral damage has driven the implementation of guidance systems on a myriad of different platforms. Current seeker systems using global positioning system (GPS)-aided technology offer good accuracy, but are limited by an adversary's signal jamming capabilities and the dynamic nature of the military target environment. Furthermore, ultra-accurate inertial measurement units (IMU) that serve as stand-alone guidance systems are very expensive and offer no terminal guidance enhancement. As a result, it is cost prohibitive to equip some platforms with precision guidance capability. The demand for high accuracy at low cost has prompted substantial recent development of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) IMU's and optical focal plane arrays (FPA). The resulting decreasing device size and production costs coupled with higher unit performance have created opportunities for implementing seeker-enabled systems on platforms previously deemed impractical. As a result, the author proposes a design methodology to develop a low-cost system while satisfying stringent performance requirements. The methodology is developed within the context of a strap-down seeker system for tactical applications. The design tenets of the optical sensor, the inertial sensor, and projectile flight dynamics were analyzed in-depth for the specific scenario. The results of each analysis were combined to formulate a proposed system.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Nagle, Brian J. (Brian James)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Domhnull Granquist-Fraser.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47894

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/47894