Computer-Aided Synthesis of Nonlinear Autopilots for Missiles

Powerful nonlinear approaches for missile autopilot design have recently emerged in the literature, which have the potential to deliver improved missile performance. However, the lack of computational methods has made it difficult for the practicing engineers to exploit these techniques in routine applications. Another factor that has slowed their application is that the missile models are generally available in the form of simulations, rather than as compact set of differentialalgebraic equations. This paper discusses five different approaches for computeraided nonlinear control system design that ameliorate these difficulties. Since these design techniques are based on simulation models, they enable direct synthesis of nonlinear autopilots using missile models of arbitrary complexity. Airframe stabilization of a nonlinear, longitudinal missile model is used to illustrate the design techniques.