A segmented and weighted adaptive predictor- corrector guidance method for the ascent phase of hypersonic vehicle

Abstract In this study, considering the various terminal constraints, and strong coupling between different flight states, a novel segmented and weighted adaptive predictor-corrector guidance method is proposed for the ascent phase of hypersonic aircraft. Firstly, by means of the analysis of whole ascent phase, it can be found that the magnitudes of different states vary greatly during the ascent phase. In order to reduce the impact of the difference, a dimensionless policy is adopted for the dynamic equations. And then, based on the all-coefficient adaptive control theory, the time-varying dynamic factors which will be used in the guidance law are calculated. Analyzing the dynamic factors and the whole flight characteristics of ascent phase, it can be concluded that the change of attack angle has great and monotonous influence on the terminal flight path angle and altitude, and the flight path angle at the later period of ascent phase has little impact on the guidance channel of altitude. Consequently, the whole flight phase is divided into the first flight subphase whose guidance object is eliminating the terminal altitude and velocity errors with the weighted guidance law, and the second flight subphase when the terminal flight path angle and velocity errors are used to correct the guidance command. What\u0027s more, the selection principle of guidance parameters is analyzed, and it is very important for the terminal guidance accuracy of various states. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed guidance law are demonstrated by the Monte-Carlo simulations. The comparison simulation also shows that the effectiveness of the dimensionless scheme and weighted policy which can both improve the guidance accuracy.