autonomous weapon turret

Results

Muzzle Velocity Calculation and Maximum Range

We estimated the 45-degree angle range of our projectiles to be approximately 500 feet = 152.4 meters. A very rough estimation of our muzzle velocity is 126.7 feet per second.

User-controlled Results

The positioning, movement, and firing of the weapon system in user mode performed as expected. Because the pan and tilt system selected could not support a great deal of weight, it was necessary to design the weapon around this constraint. Unfortunately, this proved difficult to do. The motors do support the weapon, but if the system is run for an extended period of time, it could result in damage to the motors.

The grouping of the projectiles fired from the weapon in USER mode was well within an acceptable range when fired within the determined operating range of 25 feet.

Autonomous Tracking Results

The AUTONOMOUS mode tracking, while somewhat disappointing compared to our original hopes, met our expectations and exceeded the requirements defined in the original proposal. Image processing is a very CPU intensive task and the laptop selected for the system could only successfully track and hit 1 to 2 objects in a frame moving at up to approximately 3 to 4 miles per hour (human walking speed). Its accuracy was extremely sensitive to the calibration of the system, but it has about an 80% hit rate and can shoot up to twice per second. This performance is not only well within the acceptable range, it exceeded our expectations.