Tracking System

[KFC]

This might seem supid. How would I make a tracking system using Infa-red

or laser and the brain would be a BASIC Stamp 2 that would control four servos retomely?

[insane_alien]

why would you want to use a laser for a tracking system? it only works for one dimension of movement.

 

your much better with a radio tag and three recievers and then triangulate the position.

 

or you could tell us what you want it for so we can tell you better.

[KFC]

I found a cheap sourse of dollar store remote controlled car and I want to drop something from a remote controlled airplane to break the car?

 

Sound bad doesn't it?

[insane_alien]

you don't want a tracking system, you want a targetting system. there is NO WAY your going to make a smart bomb/missile.

 

1. very expensive hardware is required

2. complex programming

3. you ain't going to be able to fit it on a R/C plane

[5614]

Wow, that's complex electronics.

 

So you want to drop something, call it a projectile, from an RC plane and you want it to, with its own propulsion system, track and crash into a moving RC car?

 

To simplify things you could have a RF emitter on the car, and a detector on the projectile. As opposed to using IR. But you still need a computerised system to track and adjust the propulsion accordingly. It would be easier to guide your RC plane into the car!

[insane_alien]

actually, 5614, i think he meant by controlling fins on the object to create small course changes rather than giving it a propulsion system of its own.

[5614]

Err, ok, at first that seems great. A very minor simplification. However it would still be too complex. Then this dawned on me:

 

So the only speed this projectile will have is the speed from the RC plane. Now RC planes don't go that fast and accounting for air resistance and gravity I think that unless the car is nearby and infront of the plane then the projectile will not reach it as it will 'run out of' speed and crash into the ground first.

 

If the car was on the side of the plane or behind it the projectile would not be able to get to it. But that's ok, because the plane just turns around before it fires. But I still think that the plane and car would need to be fairly close for this to work.

 

How about trying this for fun instead: have a rope with a magnet on the end attached to the plane and another magnet on the car. The person flying the plane needs to get close enough to the car so the two magnets connect. You could then either try; (a) sliding a 'bomb' down the rope, (b) lifting the car up or © the car turning around and crashing the plane! Powerful magnets will work better. It does sound quite fun!

 

I think that the original idea is a bit too complex for a hobby project. Maybe as a Masters project for an Electronic degree, but don't let me put you off!

[KFC]

If I were to attempt this where would I start?

[bob000555]

If I were to attempt this where would I start?

 

If I where you I would start by reading up on targeting systems that the military has already built.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_missile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_guidance

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/patriot/

http://www.ordnance.org/missile_components.htm

[stormfish]

it could theoretically be done with some simple components and not too difficult programming.

get an FM braodcaster (for ipods, cdplayers ect...) these have a rather small range and therefor are perfect for your plan, plus come pre-programmed for your means.

attach your broadcaster to the car and hook up kfed's album (paris hilton's would work too; we're going for destruction here) and attach a small fm radio set to the same frequecy to the plane.

modify the FM radio by removing the speaker and running the wires to a soelnoid relay instead, this will become the auto release for your payload. (the power to the speaker may not be strong enough to operate the soelnoid, so you may have to build a cheap signal amp for this with a 9 volt battery and a couple of resistors. see http://www.hackaday.com for this)

fly plane within range and enjoy the destruction of a bad cd, a toy car, and whatever your payload is.

 

easy targeting system

w00t!

[stormfish]

radioshack

[insane_alien]

stormfish, he wasn't looking to build an auto release(yours would only work if the plane was bang on course and wasn't too high/low/to the left/to the right/slow/fast/combinations of aforementioned) he was looking to build a smart bomb.

[bob000555]

also look at http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/cruise.shtml sadly "the war on terror” aka the war on Science shut him down.

[Rocket Man]

try using an estes rocket with 4 photodiodes in the nose cone controlling electromagnets at the top of the fins, use wire through the fuselage and down the fins with a small kink inside the body which the magents move, rotating the fins a few degrees. fins on oppoisite sides share the same motion through the wire.

the photodiodes would have filters on them so that they only see the frequency given by the target, each one facing forward with a shroud so they see different areas.

the rocket spining wont be a problem because the fins will change as the diodes see different things and parabolic motion is taken out of the equation because of the way the rocket flies.

you'll inflict huge amounts of damage with a hit because of the amount the batteries weigh.

 

this gets rid of costly processors and replaces them with simple hardware.

 

a note of warning, a battery on the end of a rocket engine is very dangerous as is launching more than 30 degrees from vertical that's why both are illegal.

[KFC]

If I had some type of triangletion system and I on one of the systems I have a laser that hit the target. Then I have a modle rocket equiped with four photodiodes that interceps the target in the triangletion zone. Would this work?

[Rocket Man]

the car has an omni directional transmitter, aka, a lightbulb.

the rocket sees the lightbulb,

the rocket actively modifies it's course to break said lightbulb.

you don't need any triangulation.

[Reaper]

But you do need a good AI for the projectile to make the appropriate adjustments to hit the target, which is very difficult to program. Directing it involves a lot of variables including mass of the projectile, velocity, weather conditions, geographical location, etc.

 

Our current military smart weapons have an 80% accuracy, meaning that they will hit their targets 80% of the time. So even our latest military hardware is not perfect.

 

If you want to make a guided projectile, you are much better off making a remote controlled one. Or if you are looking to drop it from a remote controlled plane, why don't you "carpet bomb" it? This way you wouldn't have to worry about guiding it.

[Rocket Man]

you only need an analougue system. if it's on course enough to spot the target it will course correct to hit the target.

you need 4 suitable analogue detectors and a couple of transistors hardwired to the servo drivers.

"smart bombs" travel hundreds of kilometres to a target they're only given a vague location for.

this rocket is dropped from an RC plane in the right direction to a target that is a beacon. that's in the realm of amateur science.