Polynomial Guidance for Impact-Time Control Against Maneuvering Targets

To address the issue of intercepting maneuvering targets at a specific time, a polynomial guidance method for impact-time control is proposed in this paper. Based on the relative virtual framework and the classical differential geometry curve theory, such method is divided into two parts: 1) the design of the relative trajectory-length-control (RTLC) guidance law against virtual stationary targets, and 2) the design of the prediction algorithms based on the guidance law or its characteristics. The former realizes RTLC, and the latter establishes the relationship between the desired relative trajectory length-to-go and the desired time-to-go, thus implementing impact-time control. Furthermore, based on the analytical properties of the guidance law in the relative arc-length domain, its performance, characteristics, and allowable impact time are analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed guidance method and the validity of the theoretical findings are verified by numerical simulations results.