Modern Control Theory for Design of Autopilots for Bank-to-Turn Missiles

The state-space techniques of modern control theory are used to develop a methodology for the design of autopilots for bank-to-turn missiles. The methodology accommodates the gyroscopic and coriolis cross-coupling between the pitch and the yaw axes that result due to the high roll rates that can be present. The design uses the assumption that the roll rate is constant, but not zero, and results in an autopilot structure in which there are cross-couplings between the pitch and yaw channels that are dependent on the roll rate. The autopilot gains are also scheduled as functions of the dynamic pressure. A reduced-order extended Kalman filter, with fixed gains, is used to estimate the actuator states and the commanded acceleration. The performance of an autopilot designed by this methodology was evaluated in a six-degree of freedom simulation using the dynamics of a typical high-performance tactical missile. Excellent performance was obtained in teres of low miss distance and small side-slip.