Field-of-View Constrained Impact Time Guidance Against Stationary Targets

This article proposes a guidance strategy that enables the interceptor to control its impact time against stationary targets, while also meeting the field-of-view (FOV) constraints of the on-board seeker. The guidance strategy, so designed, always keeps the target within its FOV using its seeker. A barrier Lyapunov function is used to meet the FOV constraints, and an approximate expression for the interceptor's lead angle is obtained analytically. This facilitates the computation, as well as control, of impact time. The proposed guidance consists of two stages, with the former stage being deviated pursuit, while during the latter stage, the deviation angle or lead angle decreases to zero. This, in turn, ensures a zero terminal lateral acceleration. Furthermore, through a cooperative selection of tuning parameters, simultaneous interception of the target by multiple interceptors (also called salvo) can be achieved. Simulations, that are run for different engagement scenarios and with varying tuning parameters, vindicate the efficacy of the proposed strategy.