Proportional-Navigation-Based All-Aspect Approach Against Nonmaneuvering Target Using Phase-Plane Trajectory Shaping

Approaching a target from a desired heading is crucial for various modern applications. Existing literature mostly addresses terminal angle-constrained guidance for stationary targets, which also includes strategies for achieving the entire angular spectrum (all-aspect approach). However, existing strategies against moving targets can achieve only a restricted set of terminal angles. To this end, this paper presents a proportional-navigation-based multiphase guidance strategy against a nonmaneuvering target, moving at a lower speed than the pursuer, with any desired terminal angle in 2-D, by shaping the trajectory on an angular phase plane. First, a generalized version of the two-phase guidance scheme is presented for achieving terminal angles in one half-space. This is subsequently extended to attaining any desired terminal angle in the other half-space by using an additional phase for line-of-sight rotation reversal. By shaping the angular phase-plane trajectory, the pursuer’s field-of-view constraint is also seamlessly incorporated in the guidance formulation. Further, an all-aspect approach in a 3-D environment is achieved by splitting the entire 3-D engagement into two planar engagement phases and employing the developed planar guidance on each engagement plane. The performance of the developed guidance strategies is validated through extensive numerical simulations considering first-order lag and lateral acceleration limits.