Tank gunnery prediction systems

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with fire control prediction schemes for tanks employed in a defensive role against moving targets. The problem is considered in three parts: the determination of likely target movement patterns in an operational setting; the assessment and modelling of human operator response to those motions; and the utilisation of this response in optimal prediction schemes. In the first part the results from war games, tactical exercises and field trials are collated, and a method is devised for generating test target tracks for human operator study and prediction scheme evaluation. In the second part previous approaches to operator modelling are reviewed, laboratory experiments are described and a mathematical model of human response is developed. In the third part the general statistical properties of predictors are examined, a new class of predictive algorithm called the 'threshold' algorithm is devised, and this type of algorithm is then evaluated using the results of the previous two parts. The thesis ends with some consideration of further research requirements or possibilities, and of the steps needed to validate the results obtained so far.