Error analysis of a laser-designator-based terrain-following concept

This paper addresses the performance analysis of a laser designator based terrain following system for UAV's. The system performance is heavily affected by the errors of its various components. The goal is to examine the overall system error characteristics and pinpoint the different factors which may cause either improvement or degradation in terrain following performance. In this paper, the various error factors are discussed and thoroughly examined. The analysis quantifies the overall system tracking error, outline the preferred values for various system parameters in order to achieve higher terrain following performance, and mainly suggests the optimal pointing angle for the laser designators. Overall, the suggested analysis method and results grant an effective analytical method for gauging the terrain following performance of a given system.