GB1215869A - System for, and method of, guiding a moving body - Google Patents

Abstract

1,215,869. Missile guidance. COMPAGNIE GENERALE D'ELECTRICITE. 19 July, 1968 [19 July, 1967], No. 34694/68. Heading H4D. Specification describes a beam riding missile guidance system, wherein the beam produced by a laser at 11, Fig. 1, has a flat " fan " crosssection 20, Fig. 2, and is rotated about an axis O (12 in Fig. 1) parallel to the propagation direction and aligned with the target 13 and the missile 10 is provided with four light detectors 1, 2, 3, 4, Fig. 4, mounted at the extremities of guidance means, whereby the beam 20, Fig. 4, is detected by each detector in turn to produce the pulse train shown in Fig. 4a and from which the angular co-ordinate of the missile's axis # with respect to the beam axis O may be determined. Thus if the vectors 1a &c., Fig. 4, represent a correcting movement for repositioning the missile, then the correct vector is indicated by that detector first intercepted by the beam, or by the pulse in Fig. 4a following the longest gap in the train. The intensity of the correction manoeuvre is proportional to the distance between O and Q as indicated by the spacing between the pulses.