A Human Operator Gunner Model for Tracer-Directed Antiaircraft Artillery Fire
Abstract
The design of a mathematical model that simulates the gunner's performance in a manual tracking and firing mode of an antiaircraft artillery (AAA) system is presented. The specific gunnery task modeled involves direct manual rate control of the gun turret with the gunner using an optical sighting system having a line of sight coincident with the gun pointing angle. In this system mode, radar is not used for azimuth, elevation or range data. Rather, the gunner, using visual feedback from the antiaircraft artillery tracer rounds he has fired, continuously adjusts weapon pointing in azimuth and elevation to minimize the tracer-to-target error, hence increasing his chances of putting 'hits' on the target. The model is based on reduced-order observer theory and consists of a reduced-order observer, a linear feedback controller, and a remnant element. The structure of the model is not only concise, but also describes the key functional roles performed by a gunner in such a system. Short execution time of this model enhances a great deal of its applicability to existing attrition models in evaluation of the survivability of aircraft in tactical engagement scenarios. A least-squares minimization algorithm is derived to identify the model parameters systematically. It is based on a hill-climbing optimization algorithm and an average approximation method to approximate a system's delayed state variables. The ensembled mean and standard deviation of model predictions for both azimuth and elevation tracking as well as tracer errors are obtained.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA097824
Entities
People
- Kuang C. Wei