REDUCED-COMPUTATION END-GAME STEERING LAWS FOR PREDICTIVE GUIDANCE

A reduced-computation end-game (RCEG) steering law is derived for predictive guidance and simulated for a class of command guided weapons. The RCEG law considers maneuver control system response dynamics and variable axial and normal accelerations. It substantially reduces the guidance computational burden, while achieving accuracy comparable to that realizable with iterative predictive guidance (IPG). With IPG, each iteration requires numerical integration of vehicle equations of motion to predict the miss distance, whereas the RCEG law is noniterative and requires no integration. RCEG guidance uses closed-form miss distance estimates based upon lumped-parameter rotational and translational dynamics. Results of a six-degree-of-freedom simulation of a hypersonic intercept weapon system indicate that the RCEG law, compared with a representative form of IPG, has miss distances that are statistically similar to those of IPG but a computational burden smaller by a factor of approximately 36.