Path Following Using Missile Guidance Laws

Author: Shmuel Y. Hayoun
Supervisor: Prof. Tal Shima

Research project

This report presents the investigation of utilizing missile guidance theory as a method for
unmanned vehicle path following. Implementation using a virtual target moving along a
desired path is presented. Pure pursuit (PP), proportional navigation guidance (PNG)
and trajectory shaping guidance laws are considered and analyzed. It is proven that
only when following trajectory shaping guidance or PNG with N = 2 against a virtual
target moving along a circular path the vehicle will have the same instantaneous radius of
curvature as that of the virtual target. Analytical results show exponential position error
convergence for all guidance laws when following two path types: straight and circular.
However, when following a circular path, tendency to zero of the position error in the
cases of PP and PNG with N ΜΈ= 2 is conditional as opposed to trajectory shaping and
PNG with N = 2. Simulations highlight the overall advantage of trajectory shaping
when considering both straight line and circular path following, and yield results which
coincide with the analytical analysis. Experimental validation supports the analytical and
simulations findings as the guidance laws are implemented on an autonomous unmanned
ground vehicle (UGV) in laboratory environment.