Discussion and Analysis of Missile IGC Design

Missile intercept systems used in the next generation missile defense system will require extremely accurate performance of all component systems. Such systems will need to guarantee successful intercept of highly maneuvering targets. As a result, such interceptor systems require much greater performance in its guidance, control, and estimation subsystems. In order to develop systems that meet the required accuracies, integrated guidance and control (IGC) systems are currently being studied. These IGC architectures infuse the guidance and control systems into a single framework thereby promoting natural synergy among the missile subsystems. Previous work in this area has relied on missile body-based IGC formulations, but these formulations do not fully capture the physics behind missile intercept applications. This paper describes a typical body-based IGC formulation and the problems associated with it. Then an alternate IGC formulation, based on the missile velocity instead of the missile body, is discussed. The velocity-based IGC (VIGC) captures the dynamics of missile control, and its integrated guidance and control design makes the VIGC a prime candidate for future missile interceptor applications