Chapter 341: High-altitude Three-aircraft Radio Positioning

In the main conference room of the R&D center, the atmosphere was so heavy it was almost suffocating.

Dozens of top engineers and Military Representatives sat around a massive conference table, which was covered in blueprints and calculation paper; everyone's face was etched with anxiety and exhaustion.

Li Mingyuan stood before the blackboard, holding a piece of chalk in his right hand while his left hand continuously rubbed his Taiyang.

The blackboard was already filled with various calculation formulas and failed plans, each one crossed out.

"Everyone," Li Mingyuan said in a hoarse voice, "the biggest challenge we face is this—precision guidance. To strike the bases in the rear of Di Guo, we must be accurate to within 10 meters; otherwise, it is all a waste of effort."

"Chief Engineer Li," an engineer over fifty years old sighed,

"With our current level of technology, for a Missile to fly such a long distance relying on inertial navigation, accuracy simply cannot be guaranteed. The further it flies, the greater the error. This is a law of physics!"

"That's right," another engineer chimed in,

"Without fixed reference points, over a distance of 600 kilometers, even if it were accurate to the millimeter at launch, by the time it reached the target area, the error would accumulate to several kilometers!"

Minister Zhang sat in the corner, the ashtray already overflowing with cigarette butts; he irritably stubbed out the eighth cigarette in his hand, his expression grim.

"What about terrain matching technology?" the Military Department director asked, "I heard that Di Guo's Missiles can navigate based on terrain maps."

Li Mingyuan shook his head: "The precision of terrain matching is limited, and it requires extremely detailed terrain data. We do not have sufficiently detailed knowledge of the terrain in Di Guo's rear, not to mention that their bases are all in concealed areas."

The conference room fell into silence, with only the sound of heavy breathing and the rustling of paper.

Li Mingyuan turned to face the blackboard, bracing his hands on the edge of the table, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"Damn it," his mind raced,

"In this era, there really are no GPS satellites, no global positioning system, not even a decent Computer... If this were in my time, a mobile phone navigation app would have solved it... Wait, mobile phone? Radio positioning!"

He slammed his hand on the table, giving everyone a start.

"I've got it!" Li Mingyuan turned around, his eyes flashing with excitement, "We can use a 'High-altitude Three-aircraft Radio Positioning Guidance' scheme!"

"High-altitude... what?" Minister Zhang was completely confused.

Li Mingyuan walked quickly to the blackboard, erased the previous failed plans, and rapidly drew a schematic diagram:

Three points in the sky, one point on the ground, connected by lines in between.

"It's like this," he explained as he drew, his voice rising with excitement,

"We dispatch three high-altitude aircraft to fly at high altitudes near the target area, each located at a different position. Each aircraft is equipped with a special radio transmission device."

Everyone stared at the blackboard, half-understanding.

"These three aircraft form a triangular array, each emitting radio signals at a specific frequency. A receiving device is installed on the Missile to receive the intensity and time difference of these three signals; through the principle of triangulation, it can precisely calculate its own real-time position!"

The conference room erupted in an uproar; some people stood up abruptly, while others began to discuss in low voices.

"This... this is theoretically feasible!" a radio expert said excitedly,

"Three-point positioning; we have indeed used similar principles for navigation at sea, but using it on a high-speed Missile—this... this is a pioneering feat!"

Li Mingyuan added: "The aircraft not only emit beacons but also calculate the precise coordinates of the target in real-time, then transmit this data to the Missile via encrypted radio. After receiving the data, the Missile continuously adjusts its flight path until it hits the target."

"Chief Engineer Li, what is the theoretical precision of this method?" the Military Department director asked eagerly.

"Theoretically," Li Mingyuan said with confidence, "if the positions of the three aircraft are sufficiently precise, the signals are sufficiently stable, and the Missile's computing power is sufficiently strong, the precision can reach within 10 meters, fully meeting the strike requirements!"

The entire conference room instantly boiled over.

The engineers stood up one after another, discussing technical details in a cacophony of voices. The Military Representatives' eyes flashed with the light of Victory.

"Feasible! Absolutely feasible!" the radio expert said, excitedly slapping the table, "We have Second-generation Radio Equipment; we can definitely modify it!"

"The computing problem can also be solved," said Engineer Wang, the head of the Computer Group,

"Using the operating system you improved, plus specialized algorithms, the small Computer on the Missile is enough to handle this kind of three-point positioning calculation!"

Minister Zhang stood up abruptly, his eyes gleaming: "Chief Engineer Li, you son of a bitch have performed a great service again!"

He looked around at everyone, his voice booming: "Establish a special task force immediately; produce a prototype within three days!"

A burst of enthusiastic applause erupted in the conference room.

Li Mingyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

"I really am a genius," he mocked himself inwardly, "Those military science videos I watched before transmigrating actually came in handy at a time like this."

"Proceed in three groups!" Minister Zhang's voice echoed in the main conference room of the R&D center, his palm slamming heavily onto the desktop, "Time is life; we must get this system done before Di Guo takes action!"

He pointed to the schematic diagram Li Mingyuan had just drawn on the blackboard and quickly assigned tasks:

"Group One, led personally by Chief Engineer Li, is responsible for the High-altitude Radio Guidance Hexin algorithm and the automatic data encrypted communication module; Group Two, led by Engineer Wang, is responsible for modifying the three high-altitude aircraft and installing the special radio beacons and antennas; Group Three, led by Lao Liu, is responsible for improving the Missile Computer and upgrading its ability to receive and parse the three-point signals."

The engineers in the conference room were invigorated; they stood up one after another and quickly assembled according to their groups.

Li Mingyuan returned to his laboratory and immediately summoned five top radio and algorithm experts.

"From now on, our mission is to develop an algorithm capable of precise positioning during high-speed flight,"

Li Mingyuan quickly drew several mathematical models on the blackboard, "Considering the high-speed movement of the Missile, we need to perform real-time compensation calculations to correct the frequency shift caused by the Doppler effect."

"Chief Engineer Li," a young engineer wearing glasses raised his hand, "is the processing speed of our existing Computer enough? This kind of complex calculation..."

Li Mingyuan was confident: "It is. I have already designed a set of specialized simplified algorithms that only perform necessary calculations, sacrificing a bit of versatility in exchange for speed." He pointed to a set of formulas on the blackboard, "Look here, we can pre-calculate some parameters and store them in a lookup table; when the Missile is in flight, it only needs to look up the table and interpolate, greatly reducing the amount of calculation."

The group crowded forward to study Li Mingyuan's algorithm design carefully, their eyes gradually revealing looks of amazement.