In air-to-air combat, intercepting a target behind the aircraft is a challenging task, as it requires the guided missile to execute an agile maneuver, changing its flight direction by approximately 180 degrees. This maneuver requires a complex and pr...
In air-to-air combat, intercepting a target behind the aircraft is a challenging task, as it requires the guided missile to execute an agile maneuver, changing its flight direction by approximately 180 degrees. This maneuver requires a complex and precise guidance and control system, which differs from traditional methods because of its unique characteristics. To ensure agile maneuverability, thrust vectoring technology is introduced. This requires the development of guidance and control techniques to handle nonlinearity and uncertainty in the high angle of attack region, issues that have not been adequately addressed in conventional missile guidance. Guidance and control schemes for the agile turn of air-to-air missiles are proposed.
In the first part of the dissertation, the objective of the guidance loop is to establish a favorable engagement geometry against a maneuvering target by maintaining a relative velocity advantage during the agile turn. This requires rapid and precise adjustment of the missile flight path after the turn to keep the target within intercept range. To address this, the dissertation proposes a bang-to-off angle-of-attack command, with the switching time determined in real time based on the target's maneuver, thereby achieving both optimality and responsiveness.
In the second part of the dissertation, a high-gain disturbance observer-based backstepping controller is proposed to achieve high-angle-of-attack maneuvers. The missile must follow the angle-of-attack command while stabilizing its sideslip and roll angles to ensure stable rotation during agile maneuvers. However, the high-angle-of-attack regime introduces nonlinear aerodynamic effects and increases susceptibility to the phantom yaw effect, which can destabilize attitude control. To mitigate the instability, a three-axis integrated controller combining a high-gain disturbance observer and a backstepping controller is proposed to manage the high angle of attack, sideslip, and roll angles. The stability of the proposed controller is theoretically analyzed, and its performance is examined through 6-DOF simulation experiments.
In summary, achieving reliable guidance and control for agile maneuvers requires adaptability to target motion, optimal command generation, and robustness to unknown aerodynamic characteristics. The proposed guidance and control approach satisfies these requirements, providing a promising solution to intercept rearward targets in air-to-air combat scenarios.