Minimum-Effort Waypoint-Following Differential Geometric Guidance Law Design for UAVs

The minimum-effort waypoint-following differential geometric guidance (MEWFDGG) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is proposed in this paper. Using the classic differential geometry curve theory, the optimal guidance problem of UAV is transformed into the optimal space curve design problem where the guidance command is the curvature of the space curve. The speed change of UAV is decoupled from the corresponding guidance law design problem. The commonly adopted constant speed hypothesis is released, and hence the performance of the proposed MEWFDGG will not be influenced by varying-speed of UAV. The theoretical analysis demonstrates that MEWFDGG could be applied to general waypoint-following tasks with arbitrary waypoint number. The superiority and effectiveness of MEWFDGG are verified by numerical simulation examples.