Guidance law to control impact time constraining the seeker’s field of view?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a novel guidance law that is able to control the impact time while the seeker’s field of view (FOV) is constrained. Design/methodology/approach The new guidance law is derived from the framework of Lyapunov stability theory to ensure interception at the desired impact time. A time-varying guidance gain scheme is proposed based on the analysis of the convergence time of impact time error, where finite-time stability theory is used. The circular trajectory assumption is adopted for the derivation of accurate analytical estimation of time-to-go. The seeker’s FOV constraint, along with missile acceleration constraint, is considered during guidance law design, and a switching strategy to satisfy it is designed. Findings The proposed guidance law can drive missile to intercept stationary target at the desired impact time, as well as satisfies seeker’s FOV and missile acceleration constraints during engagement. Simulation results show that the proposed guidance law could provide robustness against different engagement scenarios and autopilot lag. Practical implications The presented guidance law lays a foundation for using cooperative strategies, such as simultaneous attack. Originality/value This paper presents further study on the impact time control problem considering the seeker’s FOV constraint, which conforms better to reality.