Optimum transient guidance laws for interceptor missiles: A linear-quadratic optimal control approach

The paper proposes a new approach to the tuning of homing guidance laws for interceptor missiles that makes use of linear-quadratic optimal control in a different manner than the traditional approaches. Instead of looking only for the minimization of the integral square of the guidance command, the new criterion penalizes the "variability" of the guidance command. The solution is numerically as easy to obtain as the solution of the classical linear-quadratic optimal control problem and has the familiar structure of the Augmented Proportional Navigation with a compensation term for the dynamics of the interceptor and with variable navigation constant. Howver, it has an additional design parameter that can be profitably used to avoid saturation of the guidance law.