Patent ID: 8258999

Claim:
A method for onboard determination of a roll angle of a projectile, the method comprising: transmitting a polarized RF signal from a reference source, with a predetermined polarization plane; receiving the signal at a pair of polarized RF sensor cavities positioned symmetrical on the projectile with respect to the predetermined polarization plane; receiving the signal at a third polarized RF sensor cavity positioned such that it receives a maximum signal at zero roll angle positioning; differentiating between up or down positioning of the desired roll angle position based on an output from a fourth sensor on the projectile; analyzing an output of the pair of polarized RF sensor cavities and the third RF sensor cavity resulting from the received signal and an output of the fourth sensor; generating a curve based on the output of the pair of polarized RF sensor cavities and the third RF sensor cavity indicating a relationship between roll angle and the third sensor output; and determining a roll angle positioning of the projectile based on the curve.