Application of velocity-based gain-scheduling to lateral auto-pilot design for an agile missile

In this paper a modern gain-scheduling methodology is proposed which exploits recently developed velocity-based techniques to resolve many of the deficiencies of classical gain-scheduling approaches (restriction to near equilibrium operation, to slow rate of variation), This is achieved while maintaining continuity with linear methods and providing an open design framework (any linear synthesis approach may be used) which supports divide and conquer design strategies. The application of velocity-based gain-scheduling techniques is demonstrated in application to a demanding, highly nonlinear, missile control design task. Scheduling on instantaneous incidence (a rapidly varying quantity) is well-known to lead to considerable difficulties with classical gain-scheduling methods. It is shown that the methods proposed here can, however, be used to successfully design an effective and robust gain-scheduled controller. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.