3 ms·
For drones and missiles, this technique is known as Terrain Contour Matching. If terrain contour are measured optically, navigation is independent of RF jamming
by bmurray7jhu 2mo ago
For drones and missiles, this technique is known as Terrain Contour Matching. If terrain contour are measured optically, navigation is independent of RF jamming, unlike GNSS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TERCOM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TERCOM
- yassa9 2mo agooh, wow, I didnt know that existed, thank u, sure gonna look into it
- openasocket 2mo agoIt’s an effective a surprisingly old technique, being used on cruise missiles as early as the 1960s. It actually precedes GPS and satellite navigation by several decades. Im continuously blown away by what engineers were able to do in that era with such limited computing power. Take a look at SAGE, for example. Fun fact: the usage of TERCOM in the tomahawk missile actually limited its ability to be used in Operation Desert Storm. Routes had to be planned to go around actual topographical features, instead of hundreds of miles of flat desert.
- 4gotunameagain 2mo agoRumour has it that they achieved the first TERCOM using the then revolutionary bit slicing technology.
- ponector 2mo agoSoviet space shuttle had autopilot based on the computer with 130kb of RAM.
- grumbelbart2 2mo agoMemory on the first cruise missiles was so sacred though that they it could only store the pre-planned flight terrain data. So they not only loaded target coordinates, but full flight plans and had to launch from the programmed position. Desert was difficult as it has too few features.