Cooperative Target Capture Using Relative Separation for Three-Dimensional Engagement.

In this article, a nonlinear three-dimensional guidance strategy for multiple identical constant speed interceptors is proposed to capture a stationary target simultaneously. To design this proposed guidance strategy, a proportional navigation based time-to-go estimate, without any small angle assumption, is used. Based on the maximum value of time-to-go estimates of all interceptors, the range error for each interceptors is computed. Sufficiency conditions for simultaneous capture are satisfied by ensuring the range errors and their rates converge to zero for all interceptors. The proposed guidance strategy employs Lyapunov and sliding-mode control-based techniques to achieve these sufficiency conditions. Simulation studies demonstrate that this proposed strategy performs satisfactorily for various geometric engagements and in the presence of a first-order autopilot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]