EP0100719A1 - Fire simulation device for small arms or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

The simulation device provides training in the firing of rockets or guided missiles by means of a shoulder weapon. As soon as a shot is fired, the firer's field of view is occulted by a shutter. The aim at the instant of firing and the point of impact with respect to the target are displayed on an instructor's video screen. The target can be of a fictitious type generated by a computer and produced within the field of view of both the instructor and the firer at the same time. In the case of a real target, an index can be controlled by the instructor in order to locate the target and follow its progress up to the instant of firing. The result of the firing operation is judged according to the position of the point of impact with respect to the fictitious target or with respect to the index. The choice of the mode of operation is made on a control desk.

Description

The present invention relates to a simulation device intended for training in the maneuvering of shoulder weapons, such as those used for firing rockets or self-guided missiles, or in the maneuvering of similar weapons.

Simulation devices for shooting training are already known and widely. widespread. They are used for training and instructing shooters by allowing them, indoors or on real ground, to practice aiming a weapon at a target, without actually making use of projectiles. The projectile is a fictitious projectile, a calculator of which makes it possible to define the position in order to compare it with that of the target and to assess the quality of the shot, in particular determining if the aiming is correct to drive the simulated projectile to an impact on the target . These simulation devices are constantly being perfected in order to reproduce the conditions of real shots as well as possible, so that the shooters are not disoriented when they go from training to shooting simulation with real projectiles. However, the focus has so far been on shooting training from tanks or other similar firing stations and the known devices are much less suitable for weapons. shoulder. The difference is that in a live fire campaign, the shooter remains in place in front of his weapon in the case of a tank cannon, while in the case of shoulder weapons such as rocket launchers, the shooter immediately releases his weapon the shot started and he can even part with it as quickly as possible by abandoning it.

The present invention responds to the concern of better adapting fire simulation devices of the above type. above for training in the maneuvering of rocket launchers for self-guided missile launchers or similar weapons, allowing the operator to be placed in conditions very close to those he will encounter in live fire . And for this purpose, the invention proposes to provide the simulation device with concealed means controlled to hide the field of vision of the shooter immediately after the shot, thus avoiding giving the shooter the annoying habit of staying put to see the result of his shot and thus being vulnerable to a possible response.

The subject of the invention is therefore a simulation device for training in the maneuvering of shoulder or similar weapons, comprising a weapon with an aiming axis orientable by the shooter; provided with an optical unit presenting to the shooter's observation a field of vision comprising a shooting range and a target, and means for triggering a fictitious projectile shot by the shooter, means for transmitting an image of said field of vision at an instructor's station and project it onto a screen, and a computer functionally connected to the optical unit to determine the impact position of the projectile in the plane of the target, characterized in that it comprises means of occultation to eclipse the field of vision of the shooter's sight when the shooting is triggered, and means for visualizing the impact position relative to the target on the screen of the instructor station.

In implementing the device of the invention, it is possible to use both a real target and a fictitious target. In the first case, the exercises are carried out on a shooting range in which there is a target, generally mobile. In the second, the device comprises means for forming a fictitious target appearing in the field of vision of the shooter superimposed on the shooting range. These means can be, for example, of the type described in the patent application filed by the applicant on June 12, 1981, under the number 81 11574. They make it possible to visualize a realistic representation in front of the shooter and the instructor :, no punctual, of an evolving target. Naturally, in one case as in the other, the target is not necessarily unique and the invention applies equally well to exercises on multiple targets.

The concealment means are advantageously constituted so that when it is a fictitious target, this target is found in the field of vision of the shooter at the same time as the shooting range, but so as to allow to remain this fictitious target on the instructor station screen when the shooter's field of vision is obscured. The instructor is thus able to assess the result of the shot based on the position occupied by the point of impact with respect to the fictitious target at the time when the fictitious projectile is supposed to reach the plane of the target. Only the shooting range disappears from his screen when the shooter starts shooting and he can still see the point of impact and the fictitious target which are embedded on his screen by electronic means controlled by the computer.

In the case where the target is a real target, included in the shooting range, which therefore disappears from the field of vision at the same time as the ground, it is advantageous that the device makes available to the instructor an index target location, controllable from the instructor station and displayed on the corresponding screen. Such an index allows the instructor to pursue the target as long as it is visible in the projected image of the shooter's field of vision and then, after the launch of the shot and the occultation, to keep an indication of the position of the target by this index which remains visible on its screen. We use preferably an index with a non-punctual contour which can be controlled both in position and in dimensions.

• - la figure 1 est une vue d'ensemble du dispositif de simulation, dans sa réalisation matérielle,
• - la figure 2 représente une vue de dessus du bloc optique monté sur l'arme du simulateur,
• - la figure 3 est un schéma synoptique des organes électroniques essentiels du dispositif,
• - la figure 4 représente schématiquement l'image sur l'écran du poste d'instructeur,
• - les figures 5a, 5b, 5c illustrent le fonctionnement du simulateur dans ce cas particulier.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly in the light of the description given below with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 is an overall view of the simulation device, in its physical embodiment,
• FIG. 2 represents a top view of the optical unit mounted on the weapon of the simulator,
• FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the essential electronic organs of the device,
• FIG. 4 schematically represents the image on the screen of the instructor station,
• - Figures 5a, 5b, 5c illustrate the operation of the simulator in this particular case.

Figure 1 is an overview of a simulation device according to the invention used for training in firing rockets from a shoulder anti-tank weapon. This is illustrated by a single rocket launcher tube 6, although the device may include several, depending on the number of shooters to train in the same session. The particular case considered is not restrictive, either, as regards the type of weapon, the tube 6 being able more generally to be a projectile launcher and the projectile being able to be for example a missile as well as a rocket .

On the rocket launcher tube 6 is mounted an optical unit 1 which comprises two parts: an optoelectronic box 11 situated inside the launching tube and an optical box 12 placed in front of the telescope 13 of the shooter and fixed on the internal part of the optoelectronic box 11.

A computer 3, comprising logic circuits based on microprocessors and analog interface circuits, makes it possible to manage the optical unit 1, as well as a control desk 21 and a video screen 22 which: constitute an instructor station 2 From this position, the instructor organizes the shooting exercises and assesses the results.

A battery 4 supplies the supply current at a voltage of 27 V. It also includes electronic circuits which make it possible to recharge it from the network, or to supply the simulator directly from the network. An anemometer 7, sensitive to the force and the orientation of the wind, and located in front of the firing station in the direction of the target, makes it possible to take account of the transverse wind in the calculations. Finally, connection cables 5 provide the necessary functional links between the computer and the various elements.

FIG. 2 represents a top view of the optical unit 1 integrated in the tube 6. This optical unit 1 comprises various elements which have the function on the one hand of presenting to the shooter's observation, in the scope 13, a field of vision including the shooting range, with or without real target, a reticle materializing the line of sight, and possibly a fictitious target, on the other hand to take an image of this field of vision to transmit it to the post - instructor .

In the optoelectronic package 11, a synthetic image generation device 111 makes it possible to produce fictitious target images under the control of the computer 3. This image generator, in the particular case considered here, is of the flying cathode-ray tube type -spot as described in patent application number 81 11574 filed in the name of the Applicant on June 12, 1981. The successive target images produced on the tube are transmitted to the optical unit 12 and the telescope 13 by a prism with a semi-reflecting surface 122 and a semi-reflecting plate 121 of the optical unit 12, one like the other oriented at 45 degrees from the optical path ..

A video camera 112 is arranged in the optoelectronic box 11, next to the image generator 111, so as to take the picture of the visible optical field of the shooter's scope 13, which is returned to it by the semi-reflecting blade 121 and a prism with a semi-reflecting surface 116. The image is retransmitted by the electronic equipment to be reproduced on the video screen 22 of the instructor station 2.

The optoelectronic block also contains a gyroscope 113 which provides information to the computer on the movements which can be printed on the weapon during the operations, so that the computer can compensate for these movements in the calculations. Likewise, a slope detector 114, also connected to the computer, makes it possible to correct the calculation of the impact point as a function of the slope.

Each element of the optoelectronic package is in itself well known to those skilled in the art and does not require a more detailed description. It is also the same for the various optical members of the optical unit 12.

In the latter is in particular the semi-transparent blade 121 already mentioned, which is located in front of the lens of the telescope 13 and which makes it possible to transmit to the shooter the image of the landscape, by superimposing on it the reflected images coming from the generator d 'images 111. It also makes it possible to return all of these images, constituting the overall image of the shooter's field of vision, towards the video camera 112, through an automatically adjustable diaphragm 125. Two switchable gray filters 124 attenuate the brightness of the landscape.

The shooter also sees in the scope 13 a reticle linked to the aiming axis of the weapon, which can either be engraved inside the scope or projected onto it by conventional optical means, or be produced by the image generator 111, under the control of the computer, and a fictitious target, generated by the device 111 and superimposed on the landscape.

The optical unit also comprises, according to the invention, a concealing veil 123, actuated by a rotating electromagnet 126, which can be brought across the optical path to suppress the vision of the landscape in the telescope 13 after the simulated rocket departure. This movement of the web 123 is carried out under the command of an order which is issued from the computer at the time when the shooter triggers the firing by pressing the trigger of his weapon. As it is placed in FIG. 2, this concealment device always leaves the sight of a person viewed by the telescope, the images coming from the image generator 111. Therefore, the arrangement shown is better suited if the target is a real target, which is then eclipsed with the landscape at the time of concealment by the veil 123. In an alternative embodiment, the veil is moved to be between the blade 121 and the telescope 13, so that the images from the generator 11, in particular those representing a fictitious target, are hidden from the view of the shooter at the same time as the landscape during the occultation.

In addition, FIG. 2 shows a windscreen 127, disposed in front of the optical unit 12. It is useful in the case of indoor training. Indeed, while in the present description, we have rather referred to training outside, in front of a real shooting range, the same device can be used, under similar conditions, for indoor operation. The shooting range is then constituted by a landscape image projected into the shooter's field of vision. These may for example be still images projected from slides in the case where the target is a so-called fictitious target formed elsewhere, or images projected from a film depicting a moving target moving on a fixed ground, the operating mode then being that of a so-called real target training.

2 et assure la sommation des signaux vidéo reçus de la. caméra et du calculateur pour les transmettre au moniteur vidéo 18 commandant la visualisation sur l'écran du poste d'instructeur. Des organes plus accessoires dont les informations interviennent en plus dans les calculs n'ent pas été représentés.In FIG. 3, it is better to see that the computer 3 is in functional relation with the organs of the shooter's station, which appear in the upper part of the figure, and those of the instructor's station, which have been represented in the lower part. Thus, this calculator receives information, mainly from the launching or triggering device of the shot 14, from a device for controlling the generation of a fictitious target 15, available to the instructor, and from a device index control 16 whose used will appear later. It also receives synchronization signals from an electronic video control unit 17, which manages the operation of the camera.

2 and ensures the summation of the video signals received from the. camera and computer to transmit them to the video monitor 18 controlling the display on the screen of the instructor station. More accessory bodies whose information is also involved in the calculations have not been shown.

On the other hand, the computer issues orders, as has already been explained, mainly in the direction of the image generator 111, which has been represented with its cathode ray tube 19 and the very high voltage current supply thereof, and in the direction of the concealment device 23, which includes the web 123 and its drive motor 126. It also produces video overlay signals , which are transmitted to the electronic assembly 17 for the display of the corresponding information on the screen 22 of the instructor station. Finally, the computer 3 determines, mainly as a function of previously recorded characteristics of the simulated projectile, the distance from the target and the other parameters mentioned, what would be the point of impact of this projectile in the plane of the target.

FIG. 4 shows the indications which are displayed on the instructor's screen under the control of the overlay signals. We did not represent the landscape which is added to it, retransmitted from the field of vision of the shooter, with possibly a real target evolving on the ground, until the moment of occultation. On the other hand, the fictitious target 43 has appeared, which appears there, in the case of an operation with a fictitious target, retransmitted by the camera 112 of the image generator 111. the overlay signals contain the information necessary for the display of 'a reticle 41, identical to that which is presented to the viewer of the shooter and linked like him to the line of sight 45, with an index 44 that the instructor determines, in the form of a variable rectangle in position and in dimensions, in the case of operation with an actual target, and an impact cross 42 characterizing the position of the point of impact determined by the computer.

We will now return to FIG. 1 to describe the control desk 21 of the instructor station 2 and describe how the instructor selects the different operating conditions and ensures the different commands, in particular by the devices 15 and 16 of FIG. 3 and by introducing into the computer 3 the parameters necessary for the simulation.

A first part of the desk 21 allows the instructor, after power-up (controlled on the computer), to choose between three functions, depending on whether he presses an "initialization" key 211, a "dummy target" key 212, a "real target" key 213. In general, the instructor first chooses the "initialization" key 211, because he must ensure that the harmonization of the origins is correct. Indeed, the origins or axes of reference for the generation of a fictitious target and the video overlay of the aiming reticle must be confused with the origin of the reticle of the shooter's scope. To do this, the instructor uses zone 219 of the control console which allows him, by acting on the potentiometer buttons grouped by three, first to align on the reticle of the shooter's scope a reference cross generated by the simulator, centered on a reference axis, then align the crosshairs on the screen on the cross. The three potentiometers of each group allow this to move the corresponding image respectively in X, in Y and in rotation (fig. 4).

For a fictitious target mode of operation, - the instructor has part 218 of the desk, which allows him to record the parameters of several fictitious targets before the instruction sessions, namely for example, for each target: a reference number, the distance d from the target at its appearance, its speed, its orientation in space relative to the horizontal and vertical directions, its position in X and Y relative to the center of the field (always at the time of its appearance ), the slope of the terrain on which it operates, its brightness. It is also possible for him to modify the recorded linear trajectory of a given target, during exercise, by action in real time on a control stick 215 which makes it possible to modify the orientation of the target and to vary its speed. .

Part 214 of the desk is used in conjunction with the control stick 215 when the instructor has chosen the operating mode on real target. In this operating mode, the computer generates the rectangular index 44 on the video screen and the instructor brings this index superimposed on the target (which he observes on the landscape retransmitted by the camera) by means of the control stick 215 At the same time, by acting on potentiometers 216 and 217 according to the height of the target and its width, it adjusts the size of the index so that it corresponds to the dimensions of the target. By ordering this index, the instructor pursues the target until the start of the shot, which allows the computer to determine by the evolution of the magnitude, the position and the speed of the index, the distance, the position, the target's speed and direction of movement when the shot was fired.

The electronic circuits associated with the various organs of the simulator, in particular those of the control console, are conventional and within the reach of those skilled in the art. They will therefore not be the subject of a more detailed description.

The operation of the simulator is illustrated, in the case of a simulation on real ground with a fictitious target, by the drawings of FIGS. 5a, 5b, 5c, which show in successive stages, on the left, what the shooter sees in the scope, on the right what appears on the instructor's screen.

First of all the instructor indicates to the shooter the position of appearance of the target (for example: tank at the edge of the grove on the right). The shooter prepares his weapon and directs it to the designated location. The instructor, when he considers that the shooter is targeting the indicated area, decides to start the target, by causing the generation of a fictitious target whose parameters he has previously recorded (fig. 5a). During the pursuit of the target by the shooter, he can modify its evolution by acting on the control stick 215 and thus complicate the task of the shooter to accustom him to being wary of the apparent ease of pursuit.

While the shooter points his weapon (fig. 5b), the instructor appreciates his work by means of the telescopic reticle reproduced on the video monitor. When he considers his aim correct, the shooter orders the firing of the fictitious rocket. The triggering of the shot instantly causes the movement of the concealment veil of the optical unit, which then obstructs the vision of the landscape for the shooter and the instructor, and even that of the fictitious target for the shooter in the case shown (fig. 5c The shooter then puts down his weapon and moves away, then joins the instructor in front of the video screen to assess the result of the shot. They can see the embedded reticle 41, the fictitious target 43, whose position is frozen at the moment of firing, increased by the simulated rocket journey time, and the impact cross 42 representing the point of impact.

In the case of an actual target shooting simulation, the operation is essentially the same, except that the target will disappear from the instructor's screen with the landscape. This is why in this case, the computer generates the index 44 which will allow the instructor to pursue the real target, by means of the control stick, until the moment when the triggering the fire causes the occultation, and thus indicate to the computer the position of the target and the parameters of its evolution. Subsequently, the computer considers the speed of the target as constant during the path of the fictitious projectile. To judge the result of the shot, the instructor compares the position of the index finger 44 with the position of the cross 42 symbolizing the impact.

Naturally, the invention is in no way limited to the particular embodiment which has been described and any modification within the reach of the skilled person is also part of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. Simulation device for training in the maneuvering of shoulder or similar weapons, comprising a weapon (6) with a line of sight orientable by the shooter, provided with an optical unit (1) presenting the shooter's observation a field of vision, comprising a shooting range and a target, and means for triggering a fictitious projectile shot by the shooter, means for transmitting an image of said field of vision to an instructor station (2) and project it onto a screen (22), and a computer (3) operatively connected to the optical unit (1) to determine the impact position of the projectile in the plane of the target, characterized in that it comprises means for occultation (123, 126), to eclipse the field of vision of the shooter's sight when the shooting is triggered, and means for visualizing the position of impact with respect to the target on the screen (22) of the post 'instructor. 2. Device according to - claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises means (16) for viewing on said screen (22) an index (44) for locating the target, controllable from the instructor station (2 ). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises means (15, 111) of. formation of a fictitious target (43) appearing in the field of vision of the shooter superimposed on the shooting range. 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the concealment means are constituted so as to eclipse the fictitious target of the shooter's field of vision at the same time as the shooting range, but to leave this fictitious target on the instructor station screen obscuring the shooter's field of vision. 5. Device according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the instructor station (2) comprises a control desk comprising means (215,214) for controlling the fictitious target, at least in position, orientation and dimensions on the screen (22). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the control console comprises means (218) for recording in memory of the computer the characteristics of several fictitious targets and their respective displacements. 7. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that the index has a non-point contour and in that it is controllable in position and in dimensions from the instructor station. 8. Device according to any one of these preceding claims, characterized in that the instructor station comprises a control desk (21) comprising means (211, 212, 213) for selection by the instructor between at least two modes of operation, one with a real target forming part of a landscape observed by the shooter, the other with a fictitious target. superimposed on this landscape. 9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the instructor station includes control means (219) for aligning a cross produced by image generation means (111) on the reticle of the field of vision of the shooter, and the reticle (41) embedded on the screen of the instructor station with the alignment cross (45) reproduced on this screen.

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