Optimal spatial-temporal cooperative guidance against a maneuvering target

This paper proposes an optimal three-dimensional (3-D) spatial-temporal cooperative guidance (STCG) law for intercepting a maneuvering target with impact angle and time constraints. The guidance problem is studied to achieve spatial cooperation for multi-directional attack in the normal channel and temporal cooperation for simultaneous interception in the tangential channel, respectively. Firstly, the 3-D optimal impact-angle-control guidance (OIACG) is introduced to formulate spatial interception geometry. Based on this law, the relative trajectory length is analytically derived and an accurate time-to-go predictor is formulated against maneuvering targets. In the tangential channel, an optimal temporal cooperative guidance is proposed by leveraging high-dimensional Schwarz inequality method. The proposed algorithm is believed to outperform the existing nonlinear cooperative guidance laws due to its optimality with specific performance index for minimizing the control expenditure. The convergence properties of the proposed STCG law are provided to facilitate its practical implementation. Comparison simulations and application under the realistic pursuer model and target estimation are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed cooperative method.