Ballistic Trajectory Control for Smart Munitions
Project Contacts:
Boris Kogan bk399@cornell.edu
Prof. Ephrahim Garcia eg84@cornell.edu
Figure: Conceptual Control Surfaces 
Recent advances in actuation, microelectronics, and aerodynamic modeling have created the opportunity to actively control the flight trajectory and downrange impact point of small scale supersonic hard launched munitions. Just as guided missiles and steerable "smart bombs" revolutionized air strike capabilities and mission profiles, these "smart projectiles" offer to enable new precision capabilities to the warfighter on the ground.Our approach toward a controlled projectile trajectory is to create perturbing moments through asymmetric drag by rapidly deploying control surfaces and interact with supersonic flow.
The project gathers many disciplines within: Supersonic flow interaction, high bandwidth actuators, control of a spinning body, state estimation, and energetics to name a few. Our ultimate goal is to provide a fundamental framework together with proof of concept experiments over the variety of these fields.Currently we are working on the following objectives:
- Supersonic flow interaction: Finite elements simulations and wind tunnel testing to characterize flow interaction of the control surfaces at supersonic velocities, as high as MACH 3.
- High bandwidth actuators design: Novel actuators to produce meso-scale stroke at high bandwidths, as high as 2.5 kHz, to accommodate the typical spin rates of small scale projectiles.
For more information or to apply, contact:
Boris Koganbk399@cornell.edu
Prof. Ephrahim Garcia eg84@cornell.edu