How do heat-seeking missiles function ?
In: Engineering
Imagine a 3 by 3 grid. Something like #
Now imagine a dot is in the top right but you want it in the middle. You can calculate that you need to move a bit to the right and a bit up so it’s in the middle.
This is what missiles essentially do except it’s not a 3 by 3 grid since it’s an infra-red camera that can see the hot exhaust of an airplane compared to the cold surroundings.
It sees a hot object that is different from everything else (and similar to a heat signature it has in it’s database) and try to steer the hot object right in the middle of the camera sensor (or in case of modern ones, calculate where it will be).
On what level? These things are masterpieces of engineering, with oh-so-many different components and functions.
The general idea is that hot objects emit far-infrared light. A camera detects this infrared light, and feeds its location to a computer. This computer then controls fins which steer the missile (being pushed forward by a rocket) towards its target.
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