Nonlinear Autopilot Design and Guidance-in-Loop Validation for a Tactical Air-to-Air Flight Vehicle

In this paper, design and analysis of nonlinear autopilot of a tactical flight vehicle has been carried out for surface to air application. The lateral autopilot design is based on dynamic inversion and time scale separation principle. The roll autopilot design is based on back stepping technique. At first, better tracking performance of present autopilot with respect to linear design at higher angles of attack in presence of side force and aerodynamic nonlinearity and its robustness study with respect to plant parameter variation has been carried out through six degrees of freedom simulation. Later, successful tracking performance of the pursuer nonlinear autopilot while tracking guidance command has also been demonstrated through realistic six degrees of freedom simulation of a pursuer evader engagement.