Design and comparison of autopilots of an air-to-surface antitank missile and its terminal guidance study

The design of the autopilot is one of the most important algorithms of missiles. Performance of the autopilot and its robustness are significant matters to hit a target accurately. The autopilot should satisfy the desired performance under disturbances. In the scope of this study, three autopilots were offered for tracking pitch acceleration command using different control methods: three-loop classic control, pole-placement control and receding horizon predictive control. The aim of the autopilot designed by employing receding horizon predictive control is to minimize the flight control effort, and to make the close-loop system insensitive against modelling uncertainties and stochastic shattering factors. This study comes up with that the missile is able to move in desired performance under disturbances such as control surface misplacement, thrust misalignment, wind and aerodynamic uncertainties with more robustness, less control effort and minimum miss distance and terminal time using an alternative control method instead of classic and pole-placement control methods which are generally referred by the defence industry.