Firearm electronic system
Man portable weapons include integrated electronics that calculate orientation and movement in addition to providing that data to a user's heads-up displays (HUD) as well as to group and area networks. By passing data to a HUD, the user is able to see, virtually, the flight path, point of impact and other ballistic data as well as data representing the condition and performance of the weapon for any rounds fired. The HUD also displays the relative position of other members of the team, last known enemy area of operation and other useful parameters from the man portable weapons of the other team members through the network. The electronics may be integrated within the main components of any suitable man portable weapon in a non-intrusive way as to have no effect on the firing mechanism of the small arm when it is fully assembled.
1. An electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm comprising:
a first inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
a second inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
wherein each of the at least three accelerometer assemblies in first inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and the at least three accelerometer assemblies in second inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to the x-axis, the y-axis and the z-axis;
a control system programmed to use data from the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers to calculate the location and orientation of the electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm with respect to a battlespace as well as calculating position and orientation with respect to a virtual coordinate system; and
an input/output module including at least one transceiver for transmitting and receiving data, the input/output module operatively connected to the first and second inertial measurement unit/controller.
2. The electronic firearm system of claim 1 further comprising a display receiving and displaying data from the at least one transceiver.
3. The electronic firearm system of claim 2 wherein the flight path, point of impact and ballistic data as well as data representing the condition and performance of the man portable firearm for rounds fired is displayed on the display.
4. The electronic firearm system of claim 1 wherein the control system is programmed to pre-populate position and orientation matrices in anticipation of several possible configurations of accelerometer assemblies.
5. The electronic firearm system of claim 4 wherein the control system is further programmed to pre-calculate the inverse of a regressor matrix, T, which is defined as Γ, where Γ=T{circumflex over ( )}{−1}, for each configuration of accelerometer assemblies.
6. The electronic firearm system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers further comprises:
a differential equation processor; and
a gyro simulator operable to calculate a prediction to the angular velocity which is applied to the differential equation processor.
7. An electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm comprising:
a first inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
a second inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
wherein each of the at least three accelerometer assemblies in first inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and the at least three accelerometer assemblies in second inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to the x-axis, the y-axis and the z-axis;
a control system programmed to use data from the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers to calculate the location and orientation of the electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm with respect to a battlespace as well as calculating position and orientation with respect to a virtual coordinate system and to pre-populate position and orientation matrices in anticipation of several possible configurations of accelerometer assemblies; and
an input/output module including at least one transceiver for transmitting and receiving data, the input/output module operatively connected to the first and second inertial measurement unit/controller.
8. The electronic firearm system of claim 7 wherein the control system is further programmed to pre-calculate the inverse of a regressor matrix, T, which is defined as Γ, where Γ=T{circumflex over ( )}{−1}, for each configuration of accelerometer assemblies.
9. An electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm comprising:
a first inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
a second inertial measurement unit/controller having at least three accelerometer assemblies with each accelerometer assembly having three orthogonal axes;
wherein one or more of the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers further comprises:
a differential equation processor; and
a gyro simulator operable to calculate a prediction to the angular velocity which is applied to the differential equation processor;
wherein each of the at least three accelerometer assemblies in first inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and the at least three accelerometer assemblies in second inertial measurement unit/controllers are oriented to be coplanar with their orthogonal axes parallel to the x-axis, the y-axis and the z-axis;
a control system programmed to use data from the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers to calculate the location and orientation of the electronic firearm system removably secured to a man portable firearm with respect to a battlespace as well as calculating position and orientation with respect to a virtual coordinate system; and
an input/output module including at least one transceiver for transmitting and receiving data, the input/output module operatively connected to the first and second inertial measurement unit/controller;
wherein one or more of the first and second inertial measurement unit/controllers further comprises:
a differential equation processor; and
a gyro simulator operable to calculate a prediction to the angular velocity which is applied to the differential equation processor.