Mission Systems -MC

Question 1

Explain the Ring Laser Gyro

Answer 1

The ring laser gyro sends two beams of light around a mirror in opposite directions that recombine. The measured difference in the two beams provide linear/angular, acceleration, attitude, velocity, heading and pasting data

Requires an alignment to be effective and cannot be jammed.

Drifts during operation

Question 2

GPS capabilities and limitation

Answer 2

Provides accurate 3-D Positional data, worldwide common grid used on other datums, passive day/night all wx Operations, real time and continuous information, supports a large number of geographically separated users

Limitations: dependent on a ground station, can be jammed or spoofed, LOS required, several different sources of error possible

Question 3

List the GPS sources of error

Answer 3

Clock, ephemeris, ionospheric, receiver, multipath, troposphere

Ionospheric is the greatest natural error, can be corrected by PPS.

4.0/1.2

Question 4

GPS jamming and signal vulnerability

Answer 4

Two ways of jamming are
Deception (providing false information) or denial jamming (raising the noise environment to drown out the satellite signal)

Unintentional fratricide can occur without regular coordination and deconfliction

Intentional hostile acts can also occur

Question 5

Describe the purpose of the Kalman filter and how it works

Answer 5

The kalman filter is an algorithm of linear quadratic estimation that takes current positional measurements and compares them to predicted statistical data plus any other information to produce an estimate that is statistically minimized
Uses GPS, INS, Radar set, EO/IR or IDS and position updates
Process: observe->predict->compare->calculate PVAT->track and compute CEP->apply dynamics

Question 6

List the basic radar components and what they do

Answer 6

Synchronizer-synchronizes signals that time the transmitted pulses
Transmitter-transits EM energy
Duplexer-lets the antenna act as rx and tx
Antenna-focuses the EM energy and receives returning echoes
Receiver-receives echoes and reproduces them as video signals
Indicator-display
Power source-powers components

Question 7

Explain radar range resolution

Answer 7

Radar range is the ability to determine between two target at the same bearing and different ranges

Rr=PWx492

Question 8

Explain radar range determination

Answer 8

Range is determined by measuring elapsed time while the pulse travels to and from the target

1NM=6.18

Question 9

What sort of beam is used for best resolution and what is the equation for the BW?

Answer 9

Pencil beam is used

BW (Az or El)=tan(deg) x 6080 ft x NM

Divide by 3 for yards

Question 10

What are the primary and backup modes for the APN-241?

Answer 10

Primary
MGM, MSDBS, SP, WX, WS, BCN

Backup: it depends on the situation

Question 11

What is the primary mode for the APQ-170?

Answer 11

X-Band is TF/TA
Ku-ground mapping

Both have backup modes for the other but are secretly degraded in capability