Optimal Controller for Homing Missile

The optimal control theory is applied to the homing missile lateral autopilot design. The approach is to adapt the autopilot gains to the environment model reference and to vary as functions of time-to-go to minimize the performance index. The path constraint is applied throughout the whole terminal homing period and infinite penalty is imposed at intercept. A single-plane, linear autopilot design and implementation consideration are addressed for skid-to-turn (STT) case. Application to bank-to-turn (BTT) control is also discussed.