Three-dimensional suboptimal nonlinear impact time guidance against non-maneuvering target

Abstract In this paper, a nonlinear suboptimal three-dimensional guidance strategy based on a finite-time state-dependent Riccati equation technique is proposed to achieve interception of a non-maneuvering target at a desired impact time. To design the proposed guidance, range error for a spatial engagement between an interceptor and non-maneuvering target is introduced as the difference between the desired range-to-go and range-to-go of the predicted interception point. It is shown that forcing the range error and its rate to the origin are sufficient to achieve impact time constrained interception. Several existing impact time guidance strategies require a time-to-go estimate, to implement their guidance command, which may become erroneous in the presence of measurement noise and affect their performance. However, the proposed guidance does not require any such time-to-go estimate in its design process. Furthermore, guidance for the case of planar engagements is shown to be a special case of the proposed guidance scheme. Finally, numerical simulation studies for multiple engagement geometries, along with a comparison study with an existing strategy, are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed technique.