Optimal explicit terminal guidance for a launch vehicle

Vittal, Vijaya R and Bhat, Seetharama M (1993) Optimal explicit terminal guidance for a launch vehicle. In: Acta Astronautica, 29 (4). pp. 249-262.

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Abstract

It is observed that general explicit guidance schemes exhibit numerical instability close to the injection point. This difficulty is normally attributed to the demand for exact injection which, in turn, calls for finite corrections to be enforced in a relatively short time. The deviations in vehicle state which need corrective maneuvers are caused by the off-nominal operating conditions. Hence, the onset of terminal instability depends on the type of off-nominal conditions encountered. The proposed separate terminal guidance scheme overcomes the above difficulty by minimizing a quadratic penalty on injection errors rather than demanding an exact injection. There is also a special requirement in the terminal phase for the faster guidance computations. The faster guidance computations facilitate a more frequent guidance update enabling an accurate terminal thrust cutoff. The objective of faster computations is realized in the terminal guidance scheme by employing realistic assumptions that are accurate enough for a short terminal trajectory. It is observed from simulations that one of the guidance parameters (P) related to the thrust steering angular rates can indicate the onset of terminal instability due to different off-nominal operating conditions. Therefore, the terminal guidance scheme can be dynamically invoked based on monitoring of deviations in the lone parameter P.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Acta Astronautica
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Elsevier Science.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Aerospace Engineering(Formerly Aeronautical Engineering)
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2011 06:55
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2011 06:55
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/35654

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