How does the TCS system work?

I know that the TCS system can see up to 10 miles out and it also pairs well with the Radar, but how far could the TCS see, left, right, Up, and down? From what I've seen, the TCS can see much farther left and right then where the TCS's front plate is facing.

Somewhere inside my head I found that the TCS can slew 20° off-bore in any direction, so it's not that much, but enough to do the job. Pretty sure I picked that up on this board in the last few months

Feel free to correct me though

TCS can see far beyond 10 miles. You can differentiate between an A-4, F-5 and MiG-21 at 10 miles. You can see and ID large targets much farther out

TCS can see far beyond 10 miles. You can differentiate between an A-4, F-5 and MiG-21 at 10 miles. You can see and ID large targets much farther out

I know that, but whats the gimble limits of the TCS

It can see 93,000,000,000 miles. Same as the AIM-9 seeker.

It can see 93,000,000,000 miles. Same as the AIM-9 seeker.

Que? You're not helpful sarcastic one.

Haven’t been able to find anything on the limits other than the rate of slewing

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2017/12/tomcat-eyes.html

It can see 93,000,000,000 miles. Same as the AIM-9 seeker.

Haha yes!

It can see 93,000,000,000 miles. Same as the AIM-9 seeker.

:megalol:

Visualization subject to size.

-Nick

Que? You're not helpful sarcastic one.

IF that went over your head, I’m beginning to doubt your experience. Standard joke.

aprox what size is the objective lens? 4", 6", 8"? from that with a 30° field of view we can work out magnification etc.

But 30° is quite wide angle and I can't really see that being able to identify a fighter sized target at 10 miles, so I have my doubts on that particular figure other than for a wide angle overview.

Some additional info on this page:

http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-EO-Systems.html

Some additional info on this page:

 

http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-EO-Systems.html

Thanks for that link, quite interesting.

Once you get to the bit about the TCS system that gives much better figures for the field of view with the wide field being 1.5° and the narrow field of view being around 0.5° which is comparable to what I get with my 10" f10 telescope, which uses the same sort of Cassegrainian optics, using a medium powered eyepiece.

The 30° figure is the amount the optics gimbal can swing through, with up to 30°/sec slew speed and optical stabilisation of up to 150°/sec

The vidicon tubes are sensitive to wavelengths outside of the human eyeball range especially into the IR end of the spectrum, I was surprised at how IR sensitive they were when I first pointed a tubed camera at fire that had newly gone out and I could still see flames leaping up from the embers on screen and to the eye it was just grey ash.

My apologies, my tone isn't sarcastic at all, it references a standard joke about TCS and Sidewinder seeker head "ranges". I thought, from your your screen name, that you were an aviator who had flown the F14 and would be familiar. I missed that you weren't.

 

The joke is "what is the seeker range of the AIM-9M? The answer, 93 million miles. It is the distance of the sun to the earth. Same with TCS, because the OP framed the question as "how far can the TCS see?

 

Another note. You can only try the sun thing with the TCS once. Ask Al Bean for details.

 

The cryptic answer for what some were asking is 4/10x...

Perfect answer and it makes sense- just not after 2 whiskeys lol. So we can cook the TCS by exposing it to the sun! Good to know.

Screencaps..

Screencaps..

Very cool find, thank you, that was a very interesting read.

Screencaps..

Where did you find these??? These are the only pages ive seen out of the NAVAIR 01-F14AAA-1A

"After approximately a 1 to 2 minute time delay, TCS gimbal gyros come up to speed and full video appears on TID. Symbology appears as soon as power is applied."

Gonna be interesting to see whether Heatblur decided to model things like this or not.

Where did you find these??? These are the only pages ive seen out of the NAVAIR 01-F14AAA-1A

Not the -1A manual, the pages are from a -1. Perhaps a early (mid 80's) version, cant say atm because I dont have the file at hand (pdf from eflihtmanuals). Its possible that the TCS section got moved into another manual in later editions.

dec82 with change 1 apr84

:thumbup: Thx!

dec82 with change 1 apr84

Thanks for the heads up 129 B-3.

I actually have this manual as well, yet haven't taken the time to explore it in detail and never realised that TCS section was included.:doh:

I have the F-14A '81 Change '82, and the F-14B 2001 manuals.

Nothing (useful) about TCS in those -.-

(What a jungle of manuals -.-' )

(What a jungle of manuals -.-' )

We call it a typical day at work

I have the F-14A '81 Change '82, and the F-14B 2001 manuals.

Nothing (useful) about TCS in those -.-

 

(What a jungle of manuals -.-' )

Certainly has made interesting reading for me, my background was radar and navigation systems and have always had a hobby in photography, which lead me to my final employment of working with CCTV systems for an international manufacturer of cameras and associated systems.

But yeah there are more manuals than you can shake a stick at and they each bring their own nugget of information and some things that remain constant across all of them.

I have many gigabytes of info about my favourite jet, the EE Lightning, and that is only scratching the surface of it, the F-14 is a much more complicated aircraft and must have a lot more info about how the systems work etc.

The F-14 is my favourite US aircraft and I am really looking forward to seeing Heatblur's rendition of it in DCS

favourite WW2 aircraft is the Westland Whirlwind, a twin engined single seat attack aircraft with 4 nose mounted 20mm cannons. My father was stationed at one of the airfields they operated out of during WW2, RAF Tangmere.