Terminal Time and Angle-Constrained Nonlinear Intercept Guidance

Abstract: This paper considers the problem of simultaneously controlling an interceptor's impact time and impact angle using its lateral acceleration as the sole control input. With a single control input, the nonlinear engagement kinematics is inherently underactuated, which complicates guidance law synthesis. To overcome this challenge, a hierarchical sliding mode-based guidance law is developed to concurrently regulate the two terminal constraints. The proposed architecture consists of a two-layer sliding manifold. The first layer comprises two sub-sliding surfaces corresponding to the impact time and impact angle error dynamics, respectively, while the second layer introduces a composite sliding manifold that combines the two individual sub-surfaces. Then, a variable-gain adaptive guidance law is designed to ensure time and angle-constrained interception against a stationary target, which is further extended to intercept a constant velocity target. Simulations are conducted for various engagement scenarios to attest to the efficacy of the proposed approach.