Ballistic ranging methods and systems for inclined shooting
A portable system for facilitating inclined shooting of projectile weapons comprises a ranging system, an inclinometer and a processor. The ranging system measures a line-of sight range distance from a vantage point to a target that is elevated or depressed relative to the vantage point, and the inclinometer measures an inclination angle of a line of sight between the vantage point and the target. Based on information from the rangefinder and inclinometer, the processor determines a predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting (ACIS) trajectory at the line-of sight range distance for a preselected projectile. The ACIS trajectory is based on a bullet path height correction between a bullet path height at a first altitude and a bullet path height at a second altitude, a range distance of the target from the vantage point, and selected meteorological atmospheric information.
1. A method, comprising:
determining a line-of-sight range from a current vantage point to a target that is elevated or depressed relative to the current vantage point;
determining an inclination angle of a line of sight between the current vantage point and the target; and
determining a predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory at the line-of-sight range for a preselected projectile based on a difference in altitude between the current vantage point with respect to sea level and an altitude of a sighting-in vantage point with respect to sea level, the sighting-in vantage point being a vantage point at which a projectile weapon shooting the preselected projectile was sighted in.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory is based on a bullet path height correction between a bullet path height at the current vantage point with respect to sea level and a bullet path height at the sighting-in vantage point with respect to sea level.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the bullet path height correction is further based on a range distance to the target from the current vantage point.
4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the bullet path height correction is further based on Army Standard Meteorological Atmosphere information, International Standard Atmosphere information, or actual atmosphere information.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further capable of being configured to determine a holdover or a holdunder corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising displaying information based on the holdover or the holdunder corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising calculating an angular elevation adjustment for an aiming device corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising displaying the angular elevation adjustment representing to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising communicating to a weapon-aiming device a signal representative of the angular elevation adjustment corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the method is performed by a weapon-aiming device comprising a rangefinder or a riflescope, the rangefinder or the riflescope comprising an automatic elevation adjustment mechanism responsive to the signal representative of the angular elevation adjustment.
11. An article comprising: a computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, if executed, result in at least the following:
determining a line-of-sight range from a current vantage point to a target that is elevated or depressed relative to the current vantage point;
determining an inclination angle of a line of sight between the current vantage point and the target; and
determining a predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory at the line-of-sight range for a preselected projectile based on a difference in altitude between the current vantage point with respect to sea level and an altitude of a sighting-in vantage point with respect to sea level, the sighting-in vantage point being a vantage point at which a projectile weapon shooting the preselected projectile was sighted in.
12. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory is based on a bullet path height correction between a bullet path height at the current vantage point with respect to sea level and a bullet path height at the sighting-in vantage point with respect to sea level.
13. The article according to claim 12 , wherein the bullet path height correction is further based on a range distance to the target from the current vantage point.
14. The article according to claim 12 , wherein the bullet path height correction is further based on Army Standard Meteorological Atmosphere information, International Standard Atmosphere information, or actual atmosphere information.
15. The article according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further capable of being configured to determine a holdover or a holdunder corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
16. The article according to claim 15 , further comprising displaying information based on the holdover or the holdunder corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
17. The article according to claim 11 , further comprising calculating an angular elevation adjustment for an aiming device corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
18. The article according to claim 17 , further comprising displaying the angular elevation adjustment representing to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
19. The article according to claim 17 , further comprising communicating to a weapon-aiming device a signal representative of the angular elevation adjustment corresponding to the predicted altitude-compensated inclined shooting trajectory.
20. The article according to claim 19 , wherein the instructions are executed by a weapon-aiming device comprising a rangefinder or a riflescope, the rangefinder or the riflescope comprising an automatic elevation adjustment mechanism responsive to the signal representative of the angular elevation adjustment.