How can you design a guidance system for a missile to hit a moving target?

2 Components of guidance

A guidance system consists of three main components: sensors, actuators, and a controller. Sensors measure the missile's state and the target's location, such as gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers, radars, infrared cameras, and GPS receivers. Actuators apply forces or torques to the missile's body or fins to change its orientation or trajectory, for example rocket motors, thrusters, and control surfaces. The controller is the algorithm or logic that processes the sensor data and generates commands for the actuators. This aims to reduce the difference between the desired and actual missile state and target position.

3 Methods of guidance

Different methods of guidance can be applied to target and missile dynamics. Proportional navigation keeps the missile's line of sight angle to the target constant, while augmented proportional navigation accounts for the target's acceleration and the missile's time to impact. Pursuit guidance attempts to align the missile's velocity vector with the line connecting it and the target, and lead angle guidance tries to anticipate the target's future position based on its velocity and acceleration. The controller commands the missile to turn accordingly in each method.

4 Challenges and limitations

Designing a guidance system for a missile to hit a moving target is no easy feat. There are several challenges and limitations that must be taken into account, such as uncertainty and noise in sensor data and the target's behavior, constraints and trade-offs related to the missile's performance, and countermeasures or threats from other sources. The controller must filter out noise, optimize commands within these constraints, detect and avoid countermeasures or threats, and adapt to changing scenarios. All of these considerations must be taken into account in order to ensure accuracy and reliability of the guidance system.