Smart gun aiming system

[Todg]

I'm currently working on the design for a 'smart gun', one where the gun itself can make aiming corrections, and i'm wondering: "What do you use to aim an infantry rifle?"

Optical recognition is a very complex technology, particularly where you are in an environment that changes a lot and where the target is camouflaged.

You could use thermal tracking, but already we are building thermal camouflage into our uniforms. What other methods ccan you use to pick out an enemy soldier from all the background clutter that doesn't require high tech computing, complexity or significant expense.

The basic concept is to have a rifle where the actual barrel and mechanism can be steered at least about a degree in both windage and elevation.

The shooter lines up the target. As long as he's within a certain arch, the gun's sensors pick the most likely target and make the minute corrections to guarantee a hit.

This give the soldier the ability to designate targets, but his aim doesn't have to be perfect. The trci is how does the gun aquire the target. (Similar systems on aircraft have the addvantage of less background clutter and the fact that the target shows up on radar.)

Obviously, this is not the gun to use in hostage situations

 

[mike wightman]

If this is going to be TL9 or higher I would just go witha combined optical/thermal system. Digital camera resolution is already greater than the human eye can manage, so if the soldier can see the target the smart gun sight can too.
As for tracking, the soldier looks through the sight, the sight determines his point of focus and draws an aimiing circle around it. The soldier presses a stud on the trigger to designate the target and the sight tracks it, firing a burst when the soldier fully depresses the trigger.
A computer would be very good at comparing images a micro second apart and could tag any unusual movement, e.g. the bush at 231m is not swaying in the wind in the same way the surroundings are etc.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

If you assume the target is a humanoid figure*, TL8+ computers should be able to identify them fairly easily, especially if you give them stereoscopic vision and a rangefinder.


*Or Hiver, or K'kree, or whoever your enemy happens to be.

 

[Todg]

That is the question. TL8+? I'm wondering about this, because it turns out this is rather difficult to do in real life (tm).

Any thoughts on cost? At what TL does it become cheap enough to include on every rifle?

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Because of the problems of getting the gun to point itself in the right direction, this kind of system is probably limited to battledress, turrets, or weapons like the Predator-style laser.

 

[mike wightman]

Not necessarily. The mechanisms inside the G11 were designed to move within the rifle case, IIRC, in order to reduce the perceived recoil impulse. It may be possible to build in a micro-servo system to align the barrel to achieve a hit without too great a volume/weight increase.
So the rifle case becomes a little more box like in appearance - similar to the G11 early prototypes - , a small esthetic price to pay for increased lethality.

 

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by Corejob:
That is the question. TL8+? I'm wondering about this, because it turns out this is rather difficult to do in real life (tm).

Any thoughts on cost? At what TL does it become cheap enough to include on every rifle?

In which case pitch it as a TL9/10 system, but don't be too surprised if it turns out to be a late TL8 development
As for cost, have you any idea how much the new real world electronic sights cost? Leading edge electronic technology that is then mass produced can often be ten times cheaper within only a few years. Still prohibitive for all but very rich countries, and probably too expensive for all units initially, but then how many US infantrymen carry M16s with all the bells and whistles on?

 

[Todg]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
Because of the problems of getting the gun to point itself in the right direction, this kind of system is probably limited to battledress, turrets, or weapons like the Predator-style laser.

The problem I noted in "The future of small arms" is not gross aiming. The soldier can usually get the weapon pointed in the direction of the target. The problem is minor errors - that turn out to be ver major errors.

a 10 Minute of angle (MOA) aiming error works out 10 be a deflection of 10.4 inches at 100 yards, but is only 1/6th of a degree. If the rifle could correct fire over the range of only a single degree, and bullet that would have previously struc withing 5 feet of the target at 100 yards is now a hit.

I'm not suggesting a fully independent tracking system. I still want the soldier to select targets. I just want the rifle to be able to correct for minor aiming errors of the order of a degree or two.

The aiming reticle now doesn't have to be cross hairs or a precise dot. It becomes more like a fighter pilots HUD. The soldier only has to get his target inside of an aiming circle and the gun does the rest. This woyld be particularly useful for snap shooting or shooting at moving targets.

 

[Todg]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Not necessarily. The mechanisms inside the G11 were designed to move within the rifle case, IIRC, in order to reduce the perceived recoil impulse. It may be possible to build in a micro-servo system to align the barrel to achieve a hit without too great a volume/weight increase.
So the rifle case becomes a little more box like in appearance - similar to the G11 early prototypes - , a small esthetic price to pay for increased lethality.

It could, although I was thinking in terms of something like a laser rfile, where a simple, and small 'muzzle' mounted deflector could be used. Some of the power for the laser could be used to power the aiming actuators

In the case of a conventional rifle, you have to deflect the whole gun mechanism. It could be done, but it would mean more mass to move, and thus more powerful actuators that use more power that has to be provided by an external source.

It would be rather strange to have someone aiming a weapon at you, and seeing the muzzle track you even though the user is holding the gun perfectly still.

 

[Straybow]

What if you can steer the bullet instead?

 

[Todg]

Originally posted by Straybow:
What if you can steer the bullet instead?

That's next. We're working our way up the TL ladder. I think it's going to take serious tech to put steering into a bullet - much more than steeering the rifle.

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by Corejob:
In the case of a conventional rifle, you have to deflect the whole gun mechanism. It could be done, but it would mean more mass to move, and thus more powerful actuators that use more power that has to be provided by an external source.

My first thought is a piezo-electric actuator, which can be very fast and highly damped (i.e. start/stop the barrel quickly and control overshoot). Print a reference pattern on the barrel to micro-measure its position within the gun and use a feedback loop to put it where you want. That should account for sample and temperature variations pretty well.

At TL8 I'd go digital for the measure/control feedback loop. You can code in non-linear behaviour for optimum control.

The weapon could be built to center the barrel when power for the actuators fails.

 

[Zutroi]

"I see that you are planning to kill someone. Would you like Targeting Wizard to help you?"

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Zutroi:
"I see that you are planning to kill someone. Would you like Targeting Wizard to help you?"

Your Targeting Wizard software is out of date would you like the Install Wizard to download an update?

Select Y/N...

A fatal error has occured please quit all active firing and reboot your weapon.

 

[Todg]

A good reason not to use 'Windoze' to drive you gun systems, despite all the marketing hype

--
Tod
(Unix Bigot)

 

[Uncle Bob]

Two ideas that will show up on the XM25/XM29 in the next five years (TL8)
1) To increase accuracy a systemwill take advantage of the fact that the actual point of aim wanders around the desired aiming point. A marksman takes up slack and tries to "break" the trigger as the point of aim crosses the target.
A fire control system takes advantge of this by tracking the point of aim against the background when you pull the trigger. Over a second or so it averages the wandering point of aim, then when the muzzle touches the center of the pattern, *BLAM*.

2) The fire control can highlight a moving target. The sight is always jiggling a little, but everything moves together If anything moves out of sync, it is moving on its own. The fire control then puts a bracket around the moving object tobring it to the gunner's attention. "Moving by rushes" just got a lot more dangerous.

 

[Straybow]

A sight will have a very narrow field. If you're sighted in that close you don't need much help. Maybe cues to how much to lead the target.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Innovation #1 essentially gives an average shooter the trigger control of an expert marksman. Good not just for firing the bullet, but also for making sure the laser rangefinder zaps the target and not the tree twenty meters behind it.

Innovation #2... even with a 4x sight a target in cammo at 500m is hard to identify, rsnge, and fire on during a 3-5 second rush. This gadget should chop 1-2 seconds off that. Also, it should highlght the "last known position" of a combatant who made it to cover for an airburst.

 

[Straybow]

That's true. If I were sighted in I'd still need help hitting the danged target. I'd hope soldiers would do better than me.