Apr 22, 2025

US12281878 - Coordination of pulse repetition frequency (PRF) codes in laser-guided applications

A method includes removably coupling a projectile interface of a dongle to a dongle interface of a projectile. The method also includes loading a dongle code from the dongle onto the projectile. The dongle code identifies a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) code to be recognized by the projectile. The dongle code may be unique to an operator of the projectile. The method may further include, prior to loading the dongle code onto the projectile, loading an operator code onto the projectile, where the dongle code is loaded onto the projectile in response to the projectile authorizing the operator code. There may be a limited number of uses of the dongle code with different projectiles, and/or there may be a limited amount of time for using the dongle code. A companion electronic device may be used to authenticate the dongle.

Assignee: Raytheon Company
Inventors: Dmitry V. Knyazev, James P. Henderson, Jeremy J. Radtke
Filing date: 2021-08-17

The patent describes a method for loading unique operator and dongle codes onto laser-guided projectiles to ensure that only authorized users can control the projectile’s guidance system. This process includes authenticating the operator and linking the dongle code to a specific pulse repetition frequency for the laser guidance, allowing the projectile to be prepared for firing.

Claim 1

A method comprising: loading an operator code into a memory of a laser-guided projectile, wherein the laser-guided projectile is configured to be guided by a laser pulsed according to a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) code, and wherein the operator code contains authentication information of an authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile; removably coupling a projectile interface of a dongle associated with the authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile to a dongle interface of the laser-guided projectile, wherein the dongle includes a dongle code identifying the PRF code of a guidance laser to be recognized and followed by the laser-guided projectile; authorizing the operator code by associating the dongle with the authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile; and in response to the laser-guided projectile authorizing the operator code, loading the dongle code from the dongle onto the laser-guided projectile to switch the laser-guided projectile to a ready to fire state. loading an operator code into a memory of a laser-guided projectile, wherein the laser-guided projectile is configured to be guided by a laser pulsed according to a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) code, and wherein the operator code contains authentication information of an authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile; removably coupling a projectile interface of a dongle associated with the authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile to a dongle interface of the laser-guided projectile, wherein the dongle includes a dongle code identifying the PRF code of a guidance laser to be recognized and followed by the laser-guided projectile; authorizing the operator code by associating the dongle with the authorized operator of the laser-guided projectile; and in response to the laser-guided projectile authorizing the operator code, loading the dongle code from the dongle onto the laser-guided projectile to switch the laser-guided projectile to a ready to fire state.

Google Patents

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12281878

USPTO PDF

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/12281878