EP0472815A2 - Guidance wire - Google Patents

Abstract

It is the object of the invention to develop a guidance wire (4, 40, 40') for guided missiles (1), which can be easily located and disposed of after the missile (1) has been shot. <??>This object is achieved when the surface layer (44, 46) of the guidance wire (4) contains a material which fluoresces upon illumination by light of a prescribed waveband. It is preferable to use a dye whose emission spectrum is approximately between 530 and 690 nm. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a steering cable for guided missiles.

Both electrical cables and optical fibers are used for the remote control of missiles. In recent times, however, efforts have been made above all to use optical fibers because of the large bandwidth for signal transmission.

It is particularly disadvantageous when using steering cables that the cable remains in the field after the missile has been fired. In the future, it will be necessary to remove the steering cable for reasons of environmental compatibility (danger to animals due to game feeding or entanglement in the wire or glass fiber). So far, this has not been possible with reasonable effort, since e.g. B. the glass barrel is practically invisible. Due to the low tensile strength of the fiber, rewinding is also not possible or only possible in parts.

The invention is therefore based on the object of developing a steering cable for remotely steerable missiles which can be found and disposed of in a simple manner after the missile has been fired.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features of the characterizing part of claim 1.

Particularly advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the subclaims.

The invention is therefore based on the idea of applying a surface layer to the steering cable which, when irradiated, for. B. fluorescent with UV light. The resulting increase in contrast to the surroundings makes the steering cable easily visible. This enables manual or automatic disposal.

Further advantages and details of the invention are explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments and with the aid of figures.

Fig. 1

schematisch einen Flugkörper, der über ein Lenkkabel mit einem Kommandogeber verbunden ist;

Fig. 2 und Fig. 3

zwei Ausführungsbeispiele eines erfindungsgemäßen Lenkkabels;

Fig. 4 und Fig. 5

zwei Diagramme zur Erläuterung der Erfindung.

Show it:

Fig. 1

schematically a missile, which is connected via a steering cable to a command transmitter;

2 and 3

two embodiments of a steering cable according to the invention;

4 and 5

two diagrams for explaining the invention.

In Fig. 1, 1 is a missile, e.g. B. a rocket is shown, which was started by a starter 2 and which is connected to a command transmitter 3 via a steering cable, preferably an optical fiber.

The structure of a light guide according to the invention is shown in FIG. 20 µm) and a hard coating of z. B. 250 microns, also made of acrylate. According to the invention, the hard coating was doped with a fluorescent dye. The corresponding dye particles are designated 440.

For example, organic substances which have fluorescent phenomena can be used as the fluorescent dye. This is especially the case with benzene derivatives. BBQ (benzimidazo-benzisochonolin-7-one) is particularly suitable for the present case because the corresponding emission band is approximately between 530 and 680 nm. It is precisely in this area that natural vegetation has a minimum reflection (cf. curve 7 in FIG. 5), so that there is a relatively high contrast between the luminescent glass fiber and the surroundings.

Curve 6 in Fig. 4 shows the absorption spectrum of BBQ. It can be seen that for the production of luminescence, irradiation of UV light (280 to 400 nm) leads to luminescence.

For manual disposal, the area in the area where the optical fiber is suspected is illuminated or scanned with UV lamps. The illuminated fragments of the fiber are then picked up by hand. For greater effectiveness, the collector can wear glasses with filters that let light through in the range of 500 to 550 nm.

Automatic disposal is also conceivable with small vehicles that are equipped with a filter camera (530 to 560 nm) and have an image processing system, UV headlights and a suction nozzle for sucking up the glass fiber. With the help of the wavelength-limited fluorescence radiation of the fiber, a special image processing algorithm can determine the position of the fiber in the field. Image processing calculates the position of the fiber and controls the proboscis. The image processing is supported by the camera, the filter of which preferably passes the wavelength range of the fluorescent radiation.

FIG. 3 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a light guide 40 'according to the invention, in which a lacquer layer with a fluorescent dye 46 is additionally carried out on the hard surface layer 45 known per se. The layer thickness of layer 46 can be, for example, 2 μm.

Reference symbol list

1

Missile / guided missile

2nd

Starting device

3rd

Commander

4th

Steering cable, fiber optic cable

5

fluorescent. spectrum

6

Absorption spectrum of BBQ

7

Reflection spectrum of natural vegetation

40, 40 '

optical fiber

41

core

42

Glass jacket

43

Acrylic layer

44

Surface layer with fluorescent. dye

45

hard layer

46

Fluorescent surface layer. dye

440

fluorescent. Dye particles

Claims (4)

Guiding cable (4, 40, 40 ') for remotely steerable missiles (1), characterized in that the surface layer (44, 46) of the guiding cable (4) contains a material which fluoresces when illuminated with light of a predetermined wavelength range. Steering cable, characterized in that a fluorescent dye is used as the fluorescent material (440, 46), the emission spectrum of which is approximately between 530 and 690 nm. Steering cable according to claim 2, characterized in that BBQ is used as the fluorescent material (440, 46). Steering cable according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the steering cable (4, 40, 40 ') is an optical waveguide.

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