Adaptive Entry Guidance for Hypersonic Gliding Vehicles Using Analytic Feedback Control

Abstract

This paper presents an adaptive, simple, and effective guidance approach for hypersonic entry vehicles with high lift-to-drag (L/D) ratios (e.g., hypersonic gliding vehicles). The core of the constrained guidance approach is a closed-form, easily obtained, and computationally efficient feedback control law that yields the analytic bank command based on the well-known quasi-equilibrium glide condition (QEGC). The magnitude of the bank angle command consists of two parts, i.e., the baseline part and the augmented part, which are calculated analytically and successively. The baseline command is derived from the analytic relation between the range-to-go and the velocity to guarantee the range requirement. Then, the bank angle is augmented with the predictive altitude-rate feedback compensations that are represented by an analytic set of flight path angle needed for the terminal constraints. The inequality path constraints in the velocity-altitude space are translated into the velocity-dependent bounds for the magnitude of the bank angle based on the QEGC. The sign of the bank command is also analytically determined using an automated bank-reversal logic based on the dynamic adjustment criteria. Finally, a feasible three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) entry flight trajectory is simultaneously generated by integrating with the real-time updated command. Because no iterations and no or few off-line parameter adjustments are required using almost all analytic processing, the algorithm provides remarkable simplicity, rapidity, and adaptability. A considerable range of entry flights using the vehicle data of the CAV-H is tested. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the presented approach.