EP0798535A1 - System to transmit data between a weapon and a round - Google Patents

Abstract

The system includes a weapon (A) which transmits digital words via a digital exchanger (15) to drive a constant current generator (11). A diode pair (17) gives current passage authorisation to an optoelectronic coupler (18). Signals are optically passed to the ammunition (M) via a receive optoelectronic feeder (22). A transformer-fed diode (24) and a voltage regulator (25) recover and return the codes. The transformer applies current to an initiation device (10) to fire the munition. Test signals are returned to the weapon.

Description

The subject of the invention is a system for transmitting information between a weapon and an ammunition, as well as an ammunition firing device equipped with such a transmission system.

Ammunition is a device comprising an initiation system (primer, detonator, igniter ...) and a payload (explosive; pyrotechnic composition of ignition, ejection, propulsion; under ammunition; decoy means ... ).

Modern ammunition also tends to be equipped with electronic circuits making it possible to program them in order to optimize their characteristics according to the context in which they are used. This programming of ammunition, called to be generalized on future ammunition, must be able to be made in real time, that is to say just before firing of the ammunition, according to the latest information collected on the context, namely the target, threats, etc. In these conditions, it is necessary to be able to carry out programming directly from the weapon and transmit data from the latter to the ammunition.

In addition, before firing, it is generally necessary to know the functional state of the ammunition, which supposes the transmission of data from the ammunition to the weapon and, in this case, the communication channel between the weapon and the ammunition must be of the bidirectional type.

To ensure such communication of the unidirectional or bidirectional type, there are solutions derived from those used on missiles, which use infrared systems, radio systems, or wired or fiber optic systems. However, in the case of weapons of the cannon, mortar or similar type, these Missile-type solutions cannot be used due to environmental constraints (metallic masses, high pressures, etc.).

Existing weapons of the cannon, mortar or similar type in which the pyrotechnic initiation system of the ammunition calls for an electrical connection between the weapon and the ammunition represents a very large fleet. Given the very high cost of these weapons, it would therefore be desirable to be able to use them with existing or future programmable ammunition which, in their current configuration, is generally not possible.

A system for transmitting a starting order for a device placed in a vehicle launched from a carrier system is known from document EP-A-0 252 821. In this system, the starting order The fire of the device is transmitted to it from the carrier system by means of a firing control wire and the latter is used to transmit other information to the device placed in the device.

In the system according to the aforementioned document, the machine is provided with its own source of electrical power and generates its ignition in response to a firing control signal received via the control wire.

This system of the prior art is therefore not suitable for ammunition devoid of any own source of electrical power and whose electrical energy intended for igniting it is supplied from the weapon via the weapon electrical connection. ammunition.

The invention therefore aims to provide a system for establishing real-time communication between a weapon or firing device and a munition provided with electrical connection means for firing this ammunition from a source of electrical energy. located on the weapon side.

For cost reasons, such a system should only involve a minimum of adaptation of existing weapons and should not increase the price of ammunition taking into account their consumability.

Finally, given the environmental conditions during firing, it is necessary that such a system be perfectly reliable, and therefore call for simple and rustic solutions, and perfectly safe, that is to say that the ammunition must be capable of being fired despite a failure of the information transmission system between the weapon and the ammunition.

To achieve these goals, the invention relates to a system for transmitting information between a weapon and a munition, comprising electrical connection means for closing a firing circuit of said ammunition and means for transmitting information from said weapon to said ammunition via said firing circuit, characterized in that said firing circuit is an electrical supply circuit of said ammunition comprising, on the weapon side, a device for generating electric firing current and, on the ammunition side, an electrical initiation device initiated by said firing current, and in that said information transmission means comprise, on the weapon side, means for applying to said supply circuit an electric fire current modulated as a function of information to be transmitted to said ammunition and whose low intensity is adapted to ensure a lack of initiation of said initiation device and, mu side nition, detection means connected in said supply circuit for detecting said information and a remote supply module galvanically isolated from said supply circuit for electrically supplying said detection means from said modulated non-fire current.

Thus, the system according to the invention uses the electrical supply circuit used for firing the ammunition to transmit to the latter information coming from the weapon, by means of a suitably modulated current passing through the device. of initiation but whose low intensity is adapted to ensure an absence initiation of the initiation device (no phlegmatization of the primer).

According to one characteristic, said remote supply module comprises a DC voltage generator circuit and first means of inductive coupling of said DC voltage generator circuit to said supply circuit.

Preferably, said ammunition comprises means for transmitting information to said weapon via said first coupling means and said weapon comprises a circuit for receiving said information transmitted via said supply circuit.

Thus, the system makes it possible to transmit information bidirectionally between the weapon and the ammunition.

• la figure 1 est un schéma électrique d'un dispositif conventionnel d'initiation et de test d'une munition ; et
• la figure 2 est un schéma électrique similaire à celui de la figure 1 comprenant un système de transmission d'informations suivant l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows of an embodiment given solely by way of example and illustrated by the appended drawing in which:

• Figure 1 is an electrical diagram of a conventional device for initiating and testing a munition; and
• Figure 2 is an electrical diagram similar to that of Figure 1 comprising an information transmission system according to the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electrical circuit of a conventional initiation and test device comprises a part A on the weapon side and a part M on the ammunition side. For the sake of clarity, the parts A and M have been shown respectively to the left and to the right of a dashed line L, these two parts being electrically connected, when the munition is put in place (not shown) in the weapon (not shown), by contacts designated by the references 1 and 2 in FIG. 1.

The initiation circuit for firing the ammunition comprises, in part A on the weapon side, on the one hand safety switches 3 and 4 and a generator current 5 connected in series between contact 1 and a terminal 6 for connection to the positive pole of an electrical power source (not shown), and on the other hand two other safety switches 7 and 8 connected in series between contact 2 and a terminal 9 for connection to the negative pole of the electrical power source. For its part, the part M of the ammunition side circuit comprises a primer 10 electrically connected between the contacts 1 and 2.

On the other hand, the primer test circuit 10 comprises, on side A, a test current generator 11 connected between a terminal 12 for connection to the positive pole of the power source and the contact 1, as well as an electrical connection between contact 2 and a terminal 13 for connection to the negative pole of the power source.

In operation, when the terminals 12 and 13 are connected to the power source, the generator 11 circulates in the primer 10 a test current of, for example, 0.1 amperes, and the measurement by known conventional means current passing through the primer 10 makes it possible to determine whether or not the primer is in working condition. To ignite the ammunition, terminals 6 and 9 are connected to the power source and the safety switches 3, 4, 7 and 8 are closed, so that the blast current generator 5 circulates in the initiates a current of fire of, for example, 5 amps.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 2 which illustrates an electrical circuit integrating the information transmission system according to the invention. This circuit includes initiation and test or non-fire circuits having the same structure as the circuit in FIG. 1, so that the same reference numbers have been kept to designate the corresponding elements.

On the weapon A side, the transmission system includes an electronic processing circuit 14 adapted to transmit data to the munition via a transmission circuit 15 and to receive data from the latter via a reception circuit 16. The emission circuit 15 controls the current generator 11 so that the latter produces a chopped current with a duty cycle and a frequency corresponding to the data to be transmitted from the weapon to the ammunition. A diode 17 is connected between the current generator 11 and the contact 1 so as to allow the passage of current from the first to the second and to prohibit it in the opposite direction.

An optocoupler 18 is connected at the input between the generator 11 and the contact 1 by an input diode connected head to tail across the terminals of the diode 17, and at the output to the reception circuit 16. The optocoupler 18 makes it possible to detect a modulated current generated by the munition and thus collect the data transmitted by the latter to the weapon.

On the ammunition side M, the transmission system comprises an intensity transformer 19 whose primary 20 is connected in series with the primer 10. An electronic processing circuit 21 and a remote supply circuit 22 are connected in parallel to the terminals of the secondary 23 of the current transformer 19. The remote supply circuit 22 is a conventional circuit comprising, for example, a diode 24, a voltage regulator 25 and a capacitor 26 so as to produce a direct voltage U from the alternating signal collected at the terminals of the secondary 23. The voltage U produced by the remote supply circuit 22 makes it possible to supply the electronic processing circuit 21. The latter, by detecting the current induced at the terminals of the secondary 23 and appropriate processing, makes it possible to collect the data transmitted on the weapon side by the electronic processing circuit 14. It also makes it possible to transmit data to the latter via the e primary 23 and secondary 20 of the current transformer 19, the optocoupler 18, the reception circuit 16 and the electronic processing circuit 14.

The nature of the electronic processing circuits 14 and 21, which is not the subject of the present invention, depends on the type of weapon and ammunition considered, of the nature of the data to be transmitted from one to the other, of the parameters to be programmed in the munition, etc ... If it is a temporary munition, for example an artillery rocket, the circuit processing electronics 21 may include a programmable timing device at the time of firing from circuit 14 to determine the moment of explosion. The processing circuit 21 may also include sequencers, circuits for memorizing the heading to be rallied in the case of self-guided ammunition, etc. Of course, the processing circuit 14 comprises conventional interface means (not shown) allowing to introduce the data to be programmed into the munition and to receive and read the data coming from it.

To transmit data to the munition, a secure power source is connected to terminals 12 and 13 and the current generator 11 is controlled by the processing circuit 14 via the emission circuit 15 to produce a cut-out current. with a duty cycle and a frequency corresponding to the data to be transmitted. This alternating current flows through the primary 20 of the intensity transformer 19 and induces an alternating current in the secondary 23. The electrical energy thus induced is collected by the remote supply circuit 22 which generates a direct voltage U supplying the processing circuit 21. This detects the alternating signal generated in the secondary 23 and thus reconstructs the data transmitted by the processing circuit 14.

When the weapon does not transmit data to the ammunition, the latter can transmit data to the weapon by circulating an appropriate alternating current through the secondary 23. The alternating current which is induced in the primary 20 is detected by the optocoupler 18 and the transmitted data are collected by the processing circuit 14 via the reception circuit 16.

The system according to the invention thus makes it possible to carry out a half-duplex transmission between a weapon and ammunition while retaining the existing weapon / ammunition electrical interfaces, in service to date. As an example, data transmission can be ensured by a 0.1 ampere test or fire current with an information rate of 19,200 baud. The transmission system described does not have a dedicated connection point and offers the possibility of using standard communication protocols. The transmission and reception circuits 15 and 16 can be constituted for example by a UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) unit operating in pulse width modulation, in phase modulation or using any conventional coding and encryption system. , such as circuit 8251 of the INTEL Company.

It follows from the above that the information transmission system described guarantees the interoperability of future munitions with current ammunition without recasting the weapon. The adaptations to be made to the weapon or firing device are not very complex, therefore inexpensive, since they affect only electronic and software structures.

No source of electrical energy is stored in the ammunition since it is remotely powered from the weapon, which makes it possible to meet the very high security requirements in terms of ammunition.

The system also offers great discretion since it allows the use, for future ammunition, of weapons existing to date. Finally, the system offers the advantage of low cost and high reliability insofar as it uses proven components and communication standards, as well as long-standing qualified weapon / munition interfaces. As an example, the transmission system described above can be implemented with initiation devices of the 1A / 1W type, fire or non-fire, exploding brigde wire (EBW) systems, EFI (Exploding Foil Initiator) sprayed layer.

Such a system can be used, for example, in the field of decoy by using the decoy / munition chassis interfaces known to date in order to program a decoy among n, in the field of artillery and mortars, as well than in that of missiles and submunitions.

It goes without saying that the embodiment described is only an example and it could be modified, in particular by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (12)

Information transmission system between a weapon (A) and an ammunition (M), comprising electrical connection means for closing a firing circuit of said ammunition and means for transmitting information from said weapon to said ammunition via said firing circuit, characterized in that said firing circuit is a circuit for the electrical supply of said ammunition comprising, on the weapon side (A), a device (5) generating electric firing current and, on the ammunition side ( M), an electrical initiation device (10) initiated by said firing current, and in that said information transmission means comprise, on the weapon side (A), means (11, 14, 15) for applying to said supply circuit an electric fire-rated current modulated as a function of information to be transmitted to said ammunition and whose low intensity is adapted to ensure a lack of initiation of said initiation device and, on the ammunition side (M), detection means (19, 21) connected in said supply circuit to detect said information and a remote supply module (19, 22) galvanically isolated from said supply circuit for electrically supplying said detection means from said no current modulated fire. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said remote supply module comprises a DC voltage generator circuit (22) and first means (19) for inductive coupling of said DC voltage generator circuit (22) to said supply circuit (12 , 1, 2, 13). System according to claim 2, characterized in that said first coupling means comprise an intensity transformer (19) whose primary (20) is connected in series with said initiation device (10) and at the terminals of the secondary (23 ) which are connected to said DC voltage generator circuit (22) and a first electronic processing circuit (21). System according to any one of claims 2 and 3, characterized in that said first electronic processing circuit (21) comprises means for transmitting information to said weapon via said first coupling means (19) and in that said weapon comprises a circuit (16) for receiving said information transmitted via said supply circuit (12, 1, 2, 13). System according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said weapon comprises, in parallel with said device (5) generating firing current, a non-firing current generator (11) controlled by a circuit emission (15) to produce said modulated non-fire current. System according to claim 5, characterized in that said non-fire current generator (11) is a test current generator of said initiation device. System according to either of Claims 5 and 6, when it depends on Claim 4, characterized in that the said weapon comprises, between the said non-fire current generating circuit (11) and the said connection means (1), second means (18) for coupling said receiving circuit (16) to said supply circuit (12, 1, 2, 13). System according to claim 7, characterized in that said second coupling means (18) consist of an optocoupler. System according to claim 8, characterized in that said optocoupler (18) is connected head to tail across a diode (17) connected in series in said supply circuit between said non-fire current generator (11) and said connection means (1). System according to any one of claims 5 to 9 when it depends on claim 4, characterized in that said weapon comprises a second electronic circuit (14) for processing said information connected to said transmission circuit (15) and to said circuit reception (16). Weapon for firing ammunition, characterized in that it comprises means (14-18) intended to form, in conjunction with an ammunition, a transmission system according to any one of claims 1 to 10. Ammunition, characterized in that it comprises means (19-26) intended to form, in conjunction with a weapon, a transmission system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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