Short Time Stability Approach to Guidance Law Design

In this paper a new guidance law is proposed to guarantee the stability of the guidance loop considering first order pursuit dynamics using short time stability theorem. As homing guidance is operates over a finite time, short time stability criterion which is defined over a specified time interval can be used effectively in guidance loop stability analysis. Proposed guidance law utilizes line of sight angular rate and pursuit acceleration measurements. Stability region which depends on the pursuit dynamics and guidance gains is an analytical expression in terms of time to go. Stability condition of the new guidance law is less conservatism than classical proportional navigation guidance law.