Sight Line Autopilot: A New Concept in Air Weapons

Abstract

Although the accuracy of the sidefiring AC-130 aircraft is excellent relative to other weapon systems, a detailed error analysis reveals that the pilot is by far the primary source of remaining error. This report concludes that the accuracy of his pointing the aircraft could be dramatically improved if the sight line were aimed automatically. The sight line autopilot is designed to meet this need. The autopilot design accounts for the linearized motions of the sight line as seen in the pilot's reference frame and adjoins these to the aircraft attitude states and two oscillating wind states.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1973
Accession Number
ADA005402

Entities

People

  • Bradford W. Parkinson
  • Leonard R. Kruczynski
  • Michael W. Wynne

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Force
  • Air Masses
  • Aircrafts
  • Colorado
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Control Surfaces
  • Control Theory
  • Elevation
  • Equations
  • Flight
  • Line Of Sight
  • Simulations
  • Targets
  • United States Air Force Academy
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Geodesy
  • Robotics and Automation.