Applying Missile Guidance Concepts to Motion Control of Marine Craft

This paper considers employing missile guidance concepts to design motion control systems for marine craft. Initially, classical concepts such as line of sight (LOS), pure pursuit (PP), and constant bearing (CB) are reviewed. Subsequently, the relationship of these concepts to motion camouflage strategies in nature is pointed out, as well as their application to robot manipulators. Ultimately, the CB guidance scheme is used to design a motion control system for fully actuated marine surface craft. For this purpose, the notion of asymptotic interception becomes fundamental, as the motion control goal is not to hit a physical target in finite time, but to hit a virtual target asymptotically. A modular control design inspired by backstepping and cascade theory results in a classical inner-outer loop guidance and control structure. Copyright c ° 2007 IFAC