A Novel LOS Rate Estimation Method Based on Images for Strap-down Inertial Guidance

With the development of technology, precision guided weapon is becoming more and more important in modern war. In order to launch our recent guidance system on medium and small guided weapons, we propose a method to obtain the LOS rate by combining information from both camera and gyroscope. To be specific, we firstly calculate the body LOS angle through transforming the image pixel coordinate system into the image physical coordinate system according to camera internal parameters; then subtract the missile motion information contained in the measurement signal of the seeker and finally the LOS rate is deduced. Comparing with traditional gimballed seekers, our strap-down seekers with camera have significantly reduced costs and influences caused by external environments on platform.