Tailoring theory to practice in tactical missile control

The tactical missile industry makes an excellent example of the need to bridge the gap between theory and practice in control systems. Many of today's highly successful missiles employ only the most simple classical algorithms, such as variants of proportional navigation guidance and PID control. The undeniable effectiveness of these techniques has been proven many times over, and the tactical missile industry has therefore had little use for many of the theoretical advancements made in the last two decades of control research. Recently, however, this situation has begun to change. Emerging threats and new operational constraints have created the need for a variety of new weapon systems that will eventually replace yesterday's workhorses in future conflicts. Even existing systems can expect significant upgrades as both performance requirements and available on-board computing power continue to increase. The article covers the following aspects: industry requirements; enabling technologies; fixed-structure control; parameter optimisation methods; LPV control; nonlinear dynamic inversion; and integrated guidance and autopilot design.