Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2025, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3): 835-853.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2025.000065

• CONTROL THEORY AND APPLICATION • Previous Articles    

Group cooperative midcourse guidance law design considering time-to-go

Ruitao ZHANG1,2,3(), Yangwang FANG1,2,3,4(), Zhan CHEN1,2,3(), Hang GUO1,2,3,4,*(), Wenxing FU1,2,3,4()   

  1. 1 Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
    2 National Key Laboratory of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology, Xi’an 710072, China
    3 Integrated Research and Development Platform of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology, Xi’an 710072, China
    4 Research Center for Unmanned System Strategy Development, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
  • Received:2024-04-07 Online:2025-06-18 Published:2025-07-10
  • Contact: Hang GUO E-mail:1476793301@qq.com;ywfang@nwpu.edu.cn;chenzhan@mail.nwpu.edu.cn;jsguoh@nwpu.edu.cn;wenxingfu@nwpu.edu.cn
  • About author:
    ZHANG Ruitao was born in 1996. He received his B.S. degree in weapons system science and technology from North University of China, Taiyuan, China, in 2019. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in intelligent unmanned systems science and technology with the Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China. His research interests include interceptor guidance and control, cooperative guidance, and collaboration of multi-agent system. E-mail: 1476793301@qq.com

    FANG Yangwang was born in 1966. He received his B.S. degree in applied mathematics from Huaibei Normal University, Anhui, China, in 1987, M.S. degree in mathematics from Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China, in 1990, and Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 1998. He is a professor and a doctoral supervisor with the Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China. His research interests include interceptor navigation, guidance and control, multi-sensor fusion, performance evaluation, and collaboration of multi-agent system. E-mail: ywfang@nwpu.edu.cn

    CHEN Zhan was born in 1996. He received his B.S. degree in mechatronic engineering from Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China, in 2018. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in intelligent unmanned systems science and technology with the Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China. His research interests include interceptor navigation, guidance and control, target tracking, multi-sensor fusion, and collaboration of multi-agent system. E-mail: chenzhan@mail.nwpu.edu.cn

    GUO Hang was born in 1990. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in navigation, guidance, and control from Northwestern Polytechnical University, in 2011, 2014, and 2019, respectively. He is currently an associate research fellow in Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests include hypersonic vehicle flight dynamics, guidance, and control. E-mail: jsguoh@nwpu.edu.cn

    FU Wenxing was born in 1974. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in aircraft design from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, in 2004. He is a professor and a doctoral supervisor with the Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China. His research interests include interceptor navigation, guidance and control, multi-sensor fusion, and aircraft design. E-mail: wenxingfu@nwpu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62003264).

Abstract:

To solve the problem of providing the best initial situation for terminal guidance when multiple missiles intercept multiple targets, a group cooperative midcourse guidance law (GCMGL) considering time-to-go is proposed. Firstly, a three-dimensional (3D) guidance model is established and a cooperative trajectory shaping guidance law is given. Secondly, for estimating the unknown target maneuvering acceleration, an adaptive disturbance observer (ADO) is designed, combining finite-time theory with a radial basis function (RBF) neural network, and the convergence of the estimation error is proven using Lyapunov stability theory. Then, to ensure time-to-go cooperation among missiles within the same group and across different groups, the group consensus protocols of virtual collision point mean and the inter-group cooperative consensus protocol are designed respectively. Based on the group consensus protocols, the virtual collision point cooperative guidance law is given, and the finite-time convergence is proved by Lyapunov stability theory. Simultaneously, combined with trajectory shaping guidance law, virtual collision point cooperative guidance law and the inter-group cooperative consensus protocol, the design of GCMGL considering time-to-go is given. Finally, numerical simulation results show the effectiveness and the superiority of the proposed GCMGL.

Key words: cooperative midcourse guidance, virtual collision point, time-to-go, finite-time theory, group consensus protocol