Engineering >> Computer Science & EngineeringEmbedded Systems - Tank Artillery Alignmentby Charles Powell
Submitted : Spring 2013 A majority of the computer systems used today are not personal computers but systems that are hidden away inside a system often performing one or a few dedicated functions. These systems are embedded as part of a complex device including hardware and mechanical parts with often real time constraints. Such computers are called “embedded systems” and are used every day from common household appliances to military tanks. For example, the new version of the M1 Abram tank being built by the United States Army will be equipped with a rangefinder to detect the distance between itself and the target along with the inclination to that target. Through the sub-questions provided by the project, an equation was created that would take the inputs of distance and degree of inclination to targets and output an angle of alignment for a certain artillery in respect to these distances and degrees of inclination. This equation was conceived by first calculating the equation for angle of alignment for a target with a certain distance away and with a zero degree of inclination, using kinematic equations and trigonometric identities to solve this problem. Next, the degrees of inclination were included by again using kinematic equations with coefficients relative to the distance(s) effected by the angle of inclination, solved again using trigonometric identities and ultimately the quadratic equation, which was used to come up with the simplified equation for calculating the required angle of alignment based on distance and inclination to target, which was molded into a Java program to simplify the calculation process and simulate an embedded system for the M1 Abrams Tank. Related Links:
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