Hybrid switched gain-scheduling control for missile autopilot design

This paper presents a new hybrid switched gain-scheduling control method for missile autopilot design via dynamic output feedback. For controller design purpose, the nonlinear missile plant model is first converted to a switched linear fractional transformation system. Then, the new hybrid switched gain-scheduling autopilot is designed, which consists of a switching dynamic output-feedback linear fractional transformation controller and a supervisor enforcing a controller state reset at each switching time instant. The proposed hybrid control scheme is shown to provide a systematic yet simple framework for missile autopilot design. Specifically, the control synthesis conditions that guarantee weighted L2 stability performance are formulated in terms of a finite number of linear matrix inequalities, which can be solved effectively via convex optimization without parameter-space gridding. Furthermore, stringent controlled performance and strong robustness against parameter perturbations are achieved using this new control approach, whereas no parameter variation information is required for both controller synthesis and implementation. The advantages of the proposed design approach over existing methods will be shown through nonlinear simulations for the missile autopilot design over a wide range of operating conditions