Stability and Robustness Analysis of a LASER Guided Missile System Using PID Controller

Abstract

A LASER Guided Missile System is used in most military operations for its known accuracy. But, a typical such system has a high order of non-linear characteristics and thus, a highly unstable performance. Such systems have a guidance and control system which acts as a flying servomechanism - an electromechanical device that positions an object according to a variable signal by reducing the error between two quantities. The guidance portion of the system develops the variable input signal. The input signal represents the desired course to the target. The missile control system operates to bring the missile onto the desired course. Thus, the output of the guidance and control system is the actual missile flight path. This paper dwells into the idea of using a PID Controller as part of the ‘control system’ in the missile, introducing stability in the system by reducing the error. The controller has been simulated using Simulink environment of MATLAB. The robustness of this PID controller, for different non-ideal environments, is tested post – tuning and is analysed based on performance criteria like overshoot, settling time etc.