Integrated Guidance and Control Design For Time-Constrained Interception

This paper proposes integrated guidance and control design to intercept a non-maneuvering target at a pre-specified time of interception. The problem is addressed considering nonlinear engagement kinematics and the interceptor is steered using the combined effects of canard as well as tail configurations (dual control interceptors). Different formulations of time-to-go, without the restrictive assumption of interceptor's small heading angle, have been used in deriving the guidance commands, allowing the proposed strategies to remain effective over a wide range of impact time values. A weighted effort allocation scheme, in canard and tail deflections, has been proposed to generate the required lateral acceleration. The overall design uses sliding mode control owing to its simplicity of design. Finally, simulations are presented for various scenarios, including impaired actuator, vindicating the efficacy of the proposed technique.