Azimuth Homing in a Planar Uniform Wind
Abstract
The planar trajectory of an Azimuth Homing gliding system maneuvering through a uniform wind field is presented. The kinematics of the motion is discussed generating two first order differential equations which are separated producing an expression involving only position coordinates. A change of variables is introduced and exact solutions obtained by direct integration. The resulting trajectories fall into two categories classified according to their Target Seeking or Orbital characteristics. Flight paths in the Target Seeking domain are shown to be convergent when the system has a wind penetration capability. The family of Target Orbiting solutions are shown to produce trajectories which are captured about the target in Elliptic spirals. Launch criteria are established from the time solution which takes the form of an ellipse for all the categories of Azimuth Homing. The definition of a Release Path as the locus of points from which the flight time necessary to reach the target is constant, follows from this result.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0780015
Entities
People
- Arthur L. Murphy Jr.
Organizations
- United States Army Soldier Systems Center