| Most deployed, short-range, surface-to-surface, antitank missile systems do not use passive homing. These systems require an operator for target tracking and utilize guidance strategies that command the missile along the original line-of-sight (LOS) to the heavily armored areas of the tank (e.g., direct attack). The target kill probability, {dollar}Psb{lcub}k{rcub}{dollar}, for these systems is limited by the LOS guidance strategy and operator error. Therefore, new approaches including passive homing and non-LOS (e.g., top attack) guidance are being developed to increase {dollar}Psb{lcub}k{rcub}{dollar} for future antitank missile systems. Passive homing removes operator error during flight, and top attack yields warhead impacts on the top areas of tanks which have less armor. A passive, top attack, antitank missile has many advantages; however, it relies greatly on a passive seeker to provide correct target state information under a variety of battlefield conditions. Often, nonlinear, time-varying passive seeker performance reduces the target hit probability, {dollar}Psb{lcub}h{rcub}{dollar}, which in turn reduces {dollar}Psb{lcub}k{rcub}{dollar}. This dissertation introduces an adaptive missile guidance concept which performs missile flight trajectory shaping to improve passive seeker performance while maximizing warhead performance. Autopilot designs and guidance techniques are derived to support the adaptive missile guidance concept. These solutions are evaluated with a realistic six degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) simulation for an experimental antitank missile system. In addition to their excellent performance capabilities, these solutions are simple to implement in a real-time environment. Independent of the adaptive missile guidance concept, a new guidance technique, proportional navigation plus (PNP), is introduced. The PNP solution is a more general form of true proportional navigation which includes an additional term that is a function of range. |
