Synthesis of Lyapunov-based nonlinear missile guidance for a class of maneuvering targets

The paper proposes Lyapunov-based nonlinear guidance laws for the stabilization of missile trajectories around null line-of-sight rate between the missile and the maneuvering target. The guidance laws are based on a nonlinear formulation of the missile-target kinematics. This allows tackling the stabilization of the cascade structure around suitable trajectories leading to relatively small miss distances. Several cases of maneuvering targets are considered and fundamental relationships between the proposed guidance laws and the classical proportional navigation guidance are established. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed guidance laws.