A guidance system is a device or group of devices used to navigate a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or other craft. Typically this refers to a system that navigates without direct or continuous human control. Systems that are intended to have a high degree of human interaction are usually referred to as a navigational system. There are several traditions of navigation. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, sometimes with multiple decks. ... An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. ... A missile (CE pronunciation: ; AmE: ) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ... A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. ... A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ...

One of the earliest examples of a true guidance system is that used in the German V-1 during World War II. This system consisted of a simple gyroscope to maintain heading, an airspeed sensor to estimate flight time, an altimeter to maintain altitude, and other redundant systems. The Vergeltungswaffe 1 Fi 103 / FZG-76 (V-1), known as the Flying bomb, Buzz bomb or Doodlebug, was the first modern guided missile used in wartime and the first cruise missile. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... Acrobatic bicycle is possible thanks to gyroscopic effects A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principle of conservation of angular momentum. ...

A guidance system has 3 major sub-sections: Inputs, Processing, and Outputs. The input section includes sensors, course data, radio and satellite links, and other information sources. The processing section, composed of one or more CPUs, integrates this data and determines what actions, if any, are necessary to maintain or achieve a proper heading. This is then fed to the outputs which can directly affect the system's course. The outputs may control speed by interacting with devices such as turbines, and fuel pumps, or they may more directly alter course by actuating ailerons, rudders, or other devices. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The word course has several meanings: course is the direction of travel in navigation in sailing, a course is the principal sail on a mast course is a regime of study in education in restaurant language, a course is a single dish in a row of subsequently served dishes, constituting... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A heading is used to provide hierarchical information about other information. ... Speed (symbol: v) is the rate of motion, or equivalently the rate of change of position, expressed as distance d moved per unit of time t. ... WWII era ship propulsion turbine A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow. ... A fuel pump is an essential component on a car or other internal combustion engined device. ... Aileron location on a Piper PA-28. ... A rudder is a device used to steer a ship or other watercraft. ...

Major guidance systems

Long Range Navigation (LORAN) – This was the predecessor of GPS and was (and to an extent still is) used primarily in commercial sea transportation. The system works by triangulating the ship's position based on directional reference to known transmitters. LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation) is a terrestrial navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters that use the time interval between radio signals received from two or more stations to determine the position of a ship or aircraft. ... LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation) is a terrestrial navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters that use the time interval between radio signals received from two or more stations to determine the position of a ship or aircraft. ... Triangulation can be used to find the distance from the shore to the ship. ... Antenna tower of Crystal Palace transmitter, London A transmitter (sometimes abbreviated XMTR) is an electronic device which with the aid of an antenna propagates an electromagnetic signal such as radio, television, or other telecommunications. ...

Global Positioning System (GPS) – This system of satellites provides extremely accurate position information. The receiver's position is triangulated using satellites in known orbits. Commercial receivers are limited in how accurately they may provide position data, as well as the maximum velocity at which they may operate. This is to prevent their use in manufacturing weapons. Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...

Laser designation – This form of guidance is used exclusively for military munitions. A laser designator device highlights a spot on the target with an encoded laser beam. This spot provides reference information to an incoming munition that allows it to make in-flight corrections to its trajectory. The use of an encoded signal reduces the threat of jamming as well as reducing interference in high-noise combat environments. The primary limitation on this device is that it requires a line of sight to the target from both the munition and the designator. More advanced systems use the laser to designate a target, which is acquired by an orbiting satellite that then feeds GPS target data to a launch facility. This allows potential targets to be designated long before operations commence as well as eliminating the line-of-sight requirement for the munition. A laser designator is a laser light source which illuminates a target. ... See also: line of sight in gaming, referring to visibility of units. ... A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). ...

Optical guidance – Another form of guidance used almost exclusively for military purposes, optically-guided missiles use stored images of the terrain they are to fly over and an external sensor to track their current position. This guidance system was extremely expensive and not suitable for use in small payload operations. These were used on cruise missiles before the advent of GPS, which is both cheaper and more accurate. Devices that implement optical guidance incur high costs because of the high on-board processing requirements needed to check the current location against the course data. At the time this type of guidance system was widely used by the military, processors capable of this were very expensive, although similar processing power is available in embedded architectures today. Although called optically-guided, most designs used infrared, ultraviolet, or radar imaging to scan the terrain, since the visible spectrum suffers from relatively poor clarity and high interference (other electromagnetic frequencies can see through dust and clouds, for instance). A guided missile is a military rocket that can be directed in flight to change its flight path. ... A Tomahawk cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile which uses a lifting wing and most often a jet propulsion system to allow sustained flight. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength shorter than that of the visible region, but longer than that of soft X-rays. ... This long range radar antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. ... The optical spectrum (light or visible spectrum) is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. ...

See also: Missile, List of missiles A missile (CE pronunciation: ; AmE: ) is, in general, a projectile—that is, something thrown or otherwise propelled. ... Below is a list of (links to pages on) missiles, sorted alphabetically by name. ...