Vision-based navigation and guidance of a sensorless missile. Issue 12 (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mehta, S.S.; Ton, C.; Kan, Z.; Curtis, J.W.
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Franklin Institute. Volume 352:Issue 12(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 5569
• Page End: 5598
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals; Patents -- United States -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfranklin.2015.09.010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-0032

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to develop a vision-based terminal guidance system for sensorless missiles. Specifically, monocular vision-based relative navigation and robust control methods are developed for a sensorless missile to intercept a ground target maneuvering with unknown time-varying velocity. A mobile wireless sensor and actor network is considered wherein a moving airborne monocular camera (e.g., attached to an aircraft) provides image measurements of the missile (actor) while another moving monocular camera (e.g., attached to a small UAV) tracks a ground target. The challenge is to express the unknown time-varying target position in the time-varying missile frame using image feedback from cameras moving with unknown trajectories. In a novel relative navigation approach, assuming the knowledge of a single geometric length on the missile, the time-varying target position is obtained by fusing the daisy-chained image measurements of the missile and the target into a homography-based Euclidean reconstruction method. The three-dimensional interception problem is posed in pursuit guidance, proportional navigation, and the proposed hybrid guidance framework. Interestingly, it will be shown that by appropriately defining the error system a single control structure can be maintained across all the above guidance methods. The control problem is formulated in terms of target dynamics in a 'virtual' camera mounted on the missile, which enables design of an adaptive nonlinear visual servo controller that compensates for the unknown time-varying missile–target relative velocity. Stability and zero-miss distance analysis of the proposed controller is presented, and a high-fidelity numerical simulation verifies the performance of the guidance laws.