Guidance laws using vector field to control arrival angle, time, and speed for UAVs

Abstract

In this dissertation, I propose 5 new vector fields, and apply to guidance laws for an aircraft. Primary vector field approaches are constructed by summations of repulsive and attraction vectors to arrive at a desired position without collision with obstacles. Advanced vector field approaches were designed to draw simple trajectories, and the fields were fixed. However, the vector field approaches in this dissertation are extended more, and then it can achieve much more purposes. These approaches can solve path planning and guidance problems, simultaneously with the variable fields. Examples of applications and simulation results verify that these approaches are feasible and useful. The first application is the arrival angle (or impact angle), time (or impact time), and speed control. It can be applied to various missions such as an approach for landing, rendezvous for formation flying or aerialrefueling, and so on. The second application is simultaneous target capture and standoff target tracking with regular spacing among aircraft. When gunships such as AC-130 attacks ground targets simultaneously and from the all sides, the targets could be damaged fatally. The third application is path following. If the vector fields in this dissertation are applied to path following, aircraft can archive more constraints than the previous path following guidance laws based on vector fields, that is, a utilized area of unmanned aircraft might be enlarged. The fourth application is target localization. There are many researches about path planning and a guidance law for target localization; however, optimal problems should be solved in the most cases. The vector fields for target localization is constructed based on the solutions of optimal problem, and they can be applied even in unmanned aircraft with low computational power.