An application of optimal preview control in terrain following system

An optimal preview method is applied to the design of terrain following controller for cruise missile. In this method, tracking errors and control increments are both considered in the quadratic cost function. Integrating the general optimal servo system with a preview feedforward compensation that feeds forward future command and future disturbance produces an optimal preview servo system. In the terrain following system, the flight altitude of the cruise missile is a command signal, and its future information can be known apriori. Hence, we have designed a terrain following controller with a basic state feedback and a feedforward forward compensation for future altitude information. Simulation results show that the performance of the terrain following system with such an optimal preview controller has been improved dramatically.