Homing may refer to:

Guidance

Guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes ...

, a device or group of devices used to navigate a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or other craft **

Homing (missile guidance) Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...

***

Infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is ra ...

, a passive missile guidance system which uses the emission from a target of infrared electromagnetic radiation ***

Semi-active radar homing Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive det ...

, a common type of missile guidance system for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems ***

Active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target au ...

, a missile guidance method in which a guided missile uses a radar transceiver to find and track its target autonomously ***

Homing torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

, "fire and forget" torpedoes can use passive or active guidance *

Acoustic homing Acoustic homing is a system which uses the acoustic signature (sound) of a target to guide a moving object, such as a torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a ...

, a system which uses sound to guide a moving object *

Homing (biology) Homing is the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards an original location through unfamiliar areas. This location may be either a home territory, or a breeding spot. Uses Homing abilities can be used to find the way back to home in a ...

, the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards an original location through unfamiliar areas **

Homing pigeon The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long dis ...

, a variety of domestic pigeon bred to find its way home over extremely long distances *

Homing beacon An emergency locator beacon is a radio beacon, a portable battery powered radio transmitter, used to locate airplanes, vessels, and persons in distress and in need of immediate rescue. Various types of emergency locator beacons are carried by ai ...

, sometimes homer, a beacon that transmits a signal to be homed on

Other uses

* Homing (hematopoietic), a process of cellular migration * Homing (horse), a racehorse *

Homing (mechanical) An incremental encoder is a linear or rotary electromechanical device that has two output signals, ''A'' and ''B'', which issue pulses when the device is moved. Together, the ''A'' and ''B'' signals indicate both the occurrence of and direction ...

, moving a mechanical system to a reference position *

Multiple homing * In telecommunication, the term multiple homing has the following meanings: ** telephone systems, the connection of a terminal facility so that it can be served by one or several switching centers. Multiple homing may use a single directory n ...

, two types of telephone connections of a terminal facility

Guidance

Other uses

See also