Uncontrolled direct fire rockets exhibit high impact point dispersion, even at relatively short range, and as such have been employed as area weapons on the battlefield. In order to reduce the dispersion of a direct fire rocket, feedback control is employed to fire short-duration solid rocket pulses mounted near the...
This study investigates the atmospheric flight dynamics of a munition system and the effect of a tether reel resistance mechanism for limiting the impact that the unreeling process has on the munition system. The munition system consisting of two projectiles connected by a tether line is released from an aircraft...
Impact point dispersion of a direct fire rocket can be drastically reduced with a ring of appropriately sized lateral pulse jets coupled to a trajectory tracking flight control system. The system is shown to work well against uncertainty in the form of initial off-axis angular velocity perturbations as well as...
The effectiveness of a direct fire penetrator projectile equipped with an actively controlled ram air mechanism is investigated through dynamic simulation. The ram air control mechanism consists of a rotary sleeve valve which directs air flow from an inlet at the center of the nose to side ports. The projectile...
Droplet formation in inkjet cartridges has been studied for several decades to improve print qualities. Currents and rigid nozzle plates are used inside the cartridge to fix the size of droplets exiting the chamber. This research is focused on studying the effect of nozzle flexibility on droplet formation. A flexible...
Dynamic modeling of the atmospheric flight mechanics of a projectile equipped with an uncontrolled internal rotating disk is investigated and a modified projectile linear theory is established. It is shown through modeling of this type of projectile that several coefficients of the epicyclic dynamics are altered, leading to changes in...
A method for real time in-flight prediction of the ground impact point of an indirect fire projectile is investigated. The method investigated is comprised of a combination of an impact point predictor and an extended Kalman filter state estimator based on modified linear theory. The modified linear theory model is...
Launch uncertainties in uncontrolled direct fire projectiles can lead to significant impact point dispersion, even at relatively short range. A model predictive control scheme for direct fire projectiles is investigated to reduce impact point dispersion. The control law depends on projectile linear theory to create an approximate linear model of...
Control issues are investigated for a parafoil and payload system with left and right parafoil brakes used as the control mechanism. It is shown through dynamic modeling and simulation that parafoil and payload systems can exhibit two basic modes of lateral control, namely, roll and skid steering. Using a small...
Smart weapons promise to provide leap ahead capability with regard to accuracy and engagement range for medium and large caliber projectiles. One of the most critical components of a smart weapon system is its sensor suite that provides position, orientation, and velocity information as the projectile flies down range so...