Line-of-sight rate analysis for a missile with two-axes gimbal seeker mounted on the nose cone platform

The roll maneuvering of the missile is required in order for the two-axes gimbal seeker mounted on the nose cone platform of the missile to track the target continuously. If the missile performs roll maneuvering, the coupling of angular rate occurs along the longitudinal/lateral axis of the missile body, making it difficult to measure the Line-of-Sight(LOS) rate due to the distortion of the seeker image. To obtain accurate LOS rate, it is necessary to compensate the rotations of the gimbal seeker and body angular rate of the missile. In this paper, the LOS rate equations are derived considering the angular motions of the gimbal seeker and missile. It is verified that the LOS rate of derived equation is equal to the true LOS rate through the nonlinear Six-Degree-of-Freedom(6-DOF) simulation. From the simulation results, we analyzed the effect of roll maneuvering on the LOS rate when the gimbal seeker is mounted on the nose cone platform.