METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING AND RETRIEVING POSITIONAL INFORMATION
A system for determining an impact of a target with a projectile includes a plurality of conductors defining a target area. The conductors are configured to allow at least one of the plurality of conductors to be disturbed upon impact by a projectile anywhere on the target area. A first bus is electrically connected to a first portion of a plurality of conductors. A second bus is electrically connected to a second portion of the plurality of conductors. A base resistance exists across the first and second bus. The system includes means for applying a voltage between a first bus and a second bus and means for determining a change in resistance across the first bus and the second bus in response to an impact of the target area by the projectile. A display is connected to the means for determining the change of resistance configured to display a message representative of an impact of the target area by the projectile. The system includes means for recalibrating the base resistance of the target area after the impact by the projectile.
This application is related to U.S. Ser. No. 11/402,419, filed on Apr. 11, 2006, entitled Method and Apparatus for Determining and Retrieving Positional Information, which is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. Ser. No. 11/054,670, filed on Feb. 9, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,207,566 issued Apr. 24, 2007, entitled Method and Apparatus for Determining and Retrieving Positional Information, the entire disclosure of which are incorporated herein by referenced.
This application is also related to U.S. Ser. No. 08/410,741, filed on Mar. 27, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,113 issued May 14, 1996, and entitled “Resistive Matrix Targeting System”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
This application is also related to U.S. Ser. No. 12/606,794, filed on Dec. 14, 2009, entitled “Cable Wrap System”, which is a Continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/853,574, filed on Sep. 11, 2007, entitled “Thermal Target System”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/825,174, filed on Sep. 11, 2006, and entitled “Thermally Gradient Target”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
COPYRIGHT NOTICEA portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent & Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present application relates to methods and apparatus for determining positional information and a computer-implemented approach for detecting and retrieving positional information from targets using impact detection.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONTargets are used in training for military and civilian marksmen to improve the accuracy and in particular to promote a correct location of impact on such targets. Current target systems utilize knock sensors attached to High Density Polyethylene plastic targets to determine if a target has been hit. If a projectile (e.g., a bullet) hits anywhere on the plastic including non-kill areas, it will drop. The lack of differentiation among different areas of such targets produces negative training by giving a shooter the impression that his shots are lethal when they are not. In particular, an impact on only a portion of such a target would produce a lethal blow while impact on other portions of the target would be non-lethal.
It is thus desirable to produce targets that determine a location of impact for both penetrating and non-penetrating rounds and which provide such information to a user. “Kill” and “non-kill” zones may be established on such targets to determine the lethality of impact of a projectile or penetration therein. By creating these zones and/or locating the location of impact the target or target display system could respond accordingly thereby producing a more realistic response.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention shows how to use resistive/piezoelectric materials in order to detect target impact or penetration.
Systems and methods for determining an impact of a target with a projectile are provided herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of conductors form a resistive matrix formed of horizontal and vertical conductors as depicted in
As indicated, a projectile (e.g., a bullet) may penetrate target 100 when such target is used for training or other purposes and such projectile may penetrate the plastic sheet and resistive traces of grid 101 forming target 100. The removal (i.e., by a projectile) of the resistive traces, or other conductor used to form grid 101, causes an overall change in the resistance of grid 101, i.e., the entire circuit of target 100. A simple resistive sensing circuit may be used to detect the change in resistance and generate a signal indicating that a zone (e.g., grid 101) was hit. An indication (e.g., a text message, graphic, light, etc.) of such a hit may be provided to a user (e.g., by a computing unit to a display screen).
Target 200 in
The example described above could be applied to more than just two dimensional surfaces.
In another example, a piezoelectric film could be used to detect both an impact and/or penetration of a target.
In another embodiment, a capacitive target sensor (not shown) could utilize a metalized sheet of plastic to form a capacitor similar to the construction shown in
In another embodiment, carbon fiber could be used to sense target penetration. For example, carbon fiber or carbon nano tubes could be formed into a thread and weaved into a repeating pattern with inert fibers as shown in
In another embodiment, conductive ink and dielectric ink may be used to create a pressure sensitive target.
A sensing circuit 1200 usable with sensor 1100 of
In another example, a thermal target with penetration sensing capability may be created using conductive/resistive ink as shown in
In a further example,
In another embodiment, a thermal generator 1500 can be created using programmable cells in which each cell has its own register that holds a percentage of modulation needed to drive that cell or a segment as depicted in
In another unillustrated embodiment a thermal generator/cooler could be instrumentated with piezoelectric sensors as shown in
In another embodiment, a thermal generator, as described relative to
Another method for detecting impact on a target would be to place the blocks (e.g., blocks 1602) described above into a housing that would allow them to move against a spring. Such a spring could be placed behind the post and have a diameter smaller than the post forcing the plate forward against a retaining fixture. The coil could be fixed onto the base supporting the spring and allow the post to move freely through it. This would cause a significant change in current draw in response to the metal block being impacted and forcing the spring to compress moving more of the post into the coil causing a larger current draw than when the block is at rest. By monitoring the current for each segment and storing a rest state current for comparison one would be able to detect which block was impacted by seeing an increase in current draw. If the example shown in
As described above, various training targets in accordance with the present invention may allow a determination of a location of impact or penetration of a projectile or a general location of an area of a target of such an impact or penetration. Such targets may further be augmented with a thermal generation system to allow a thermal signature to be presented on a target to mimic a signature of a “friend” or “foe” to aid training of a marksman. The various systems for detecting an impact or penetration may be combined with the various systems of thermal generation to arrive at various different targets using these systems. The various targets, sensors, and/or sensing circuits described above may be coupled to a computing unit and/or a display to allow a user to receive information that a target has been hit. Such display could indicate merely a hit or a particular location of such a hit provided via a text message, graphic, light or other such indication.
Also, the various technologies (e.g., resistive, pressure sensitive, capacitive, acceleration based) described above for the various targets, target sensors, and films could be used in a single target system having multiple target zones coupled to a controller for controlling the various targets and determining and indicating hits on such targets. For example, a first target zone could be a resistive target while a second target could be pressure sensitive, capacitive, or acceleration based. Target zones utilizing such different technologies could be superimposed on each other or placed alongside each other to produce kill or non-kill zones as desired according to a particular training situation. Each such zone could also be controlled to generate different or identical thermal signatures.
Although preferred embodiments have been depicted and described in detail herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions, substitutions and the like can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and these are therefore considered to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
Claims
1. A system for determining an impact of a target with a projectile comprising:
- a plurality of conductors defining a target area, said plurality of conductors configured to allow at least one of said plurality of conductors to be disturbed upon impact by a projectile anywhere on said target area;
- a first bus electrically connected to a first portion of said plurality of conductors;
- a second bus electrically connected to a second portion of said plurality of conductors, wherein a base resistance exists across said first and second bus;
- means for applying a voltage between said first bus and said second bus;
- means for determining a change of resistance across said first bus and said second bus in response to an impact of said target area by said projectile; and
- a display coupled to said means for determining the change of resistance configured to display an indication representative of an impact of said target area by said projectile.
2. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for recalibrating said base resistance of said target area after said impact by said projectile.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of conductors are interconnected.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of conductors form a grid.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of conductors are formed of ink.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of conductors comprise a dielectric coating.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of conductors comprise carbon fiber.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the first portion of plurality of conductors are electrically separated from the second portion of said plurality of conductors and wherein said first portion of said plurality of conductors and said second portion of said plurality of conductors electrically contact one another upon impact of the target area by said projectile to cause a change in resistance from said base resistance.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein said first portion of said plurality of conductors is electrically connected to said second portion of said plurality of conductors.
10. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
- a second plurality of conductors defining a second target area, said second plurality of conductors configured to allow at least one of said second plurality of conductors to be disturbed upon impact by a projectile anywhere on said second target area;
- a third bus electrically connected to a first portion of said second plurality of conductors;
- a fourth bus electrically connected to a second portion of said second plurality of conductors wherein a second base resistance exists across said third and fourth bus;
- means for determining a change of resistance across said third bus and said fourth bus in response to an impact of said second target area by said projectile;
- means for recalibrating at least one of said base resistance and said second base resistance after said impact by said projectile;
- said second target area being superimposed on said first target area and being electrically insulated therefrom;
- means for displaying whether one or both of said first target area and said second target area have been impacted by said projectile.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein said first target area comprises an inner target area and said second target area comprises an outer target surrounding said inner target area.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein said first plurality of conductors comprises a cylinder and said second plurality of conductors is formed in a shape of a mannequin.
13. The system of claim 10 wherein said first bus and said third bus comprise a same bus.
14. The system of claim 10 wherein said third bus is electrically connected to said first bus.
15. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
- a second plurality of conductors defining a second target area, said second plurality of conductors configured to allow at least one of said second plurality of conductors to be disturbed upon impact by a projectile anywhere on said second target area;
- a third bus electrically connected to a first portion of said second plurality of conductors;
- a fourth bus electrically connected to a second portion of said second plurality of conductors wherein a second base resistance exists across said third bus and said fourth bus; and
- means for recalibrating said second base resistance of said target area after said impact by said projectile.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein said first bus and said third bus comprise a same bus.
17. The system of claim 1 further comprising a controller configured to control an amount of current provided to said target area to emit a desired thermal signature of the target area.
18. The system of claim 10 further comprising a controller configured to control an amount of current provided to said first target area and said second target area to emit a thermal signature of said first target area and said second target area.
19. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
- a plurality of blocks, each block having a post wrapped with a coil of wire coupled to a controller; and
- said controller configured to provide an amount of current desired to cause said block to emit a thermal signature by electromagnetic induction.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein said plurality of blocks comprises a continuous metal panel forming a portion of said target.
21. The system of claim 20 wherein each block of said plurality of blocks is configured to emit a thermal signature in response to a pulse width modulation of current supplied to each block of said plurality of blocks.
22. A method for determining an impact of a target with a projectile, the method comprising:
- a plurality of conductors defining a target area;
- a first bus electrically connected to a first portion of the plurality of conductors;
- a second bus electrically connected to a second portion of the plurality of conductors, wherein a base resistance exists across the first bus and the second bus;
- applying a voltage between the first bus and the second bus;
- impacting the plurality of conductors with a projectile;
- determining a change of resistance across the first bus and the second bus in response to the impact by the projectile; and
- displaying an indication representative of the impact of the target area by the projectile based on the change in resistance.
23. The method of claim 22 further comprising recalibrating the base resistance of the target area after the impact by the projectile.
24. The method of claim 22 wherein the applying the voltage comprises providing an amount of current to the plurality of conductors to emit a desired thermal signature from the target.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein the target area comprises a first target area and further providing the current to a second target area to provide a second thermal signature.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein the first target area and the second target area are coupled to a pulse width modulation circuit for controlling a thermal signature of the first target area and a second thermal signature of the second target area.
27. The method of claim 22 further comprising a plurality of blocks, each block having a post wrapped with a coil coupled to a controller.
28. The method of claim 27 further comprising pulse width modulating a current to said plurality of blocks by said controller to provide a thermal signature to said plurality of blocks by electromagnetic induction.
29. A system for determining an impact of a target with a projectile comprising:
- a plurality of conductors defining a target area and comprising a capacitive sensor, said plurality of conductors configured to allow at least one of said plurality of conductors to be disturbed upon impact by a projectile anywhere on said target area;
- a first bus electrically connected to a first portion of said plurality of conductors;
- a second bus electrically connected to a second portion of said plurality of conductors;
- means for applying a voltage across said first bus and said second bus;
- means for determining a change in capacitance of said capacitive sensor in response to an impact of said target area by said projectile;
- a display connected to said means for determining configured to display an indication representative of an impact of said target area by said projectile.
30. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
- a second target area configured to allow a portion of said second target area to be disturbed in response to an impact by the projectile anywhere on said second target area;
- said first target area being superimposed on said second target area;
- means for determining an impact on said second target area; and
- a display coupled to said means for determining the impact configured to display an indication representative of the impact of said second target area by said projectile.
31. The system of claim 30 wherein said second target area comprises one of a piezoelectric material and an accelerometer coupled to said means for determining an impact.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 8, 2010
Publication Date: Oct 13, 2011
Inventor: Bruce HODGE (Greenfield, NY)
Application Number: 12/756,619
International Classification: F41J 5/00 (20060101);