Nonlinear Guidance and Control Laws for Three-Dimensional Target Tracking Applied to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

In this paper, a backstepping-based nonlinear guidance controller is developed, designed for three-dimensional trajectory tracking for an unmanned aerial vehicle. The guidance law design assumes first-order dynamics for the speed, course/heading, and flight path angles. The three-dimensional kinematic model is simplified to yield a seemingly decoupled system that separates the course/heading from the flight path angle. A closed loop stability of the guidance laws via Lyapunov analysis is demonstrated, and the efficacy of the controller is illustrated for three representative cases.