AIRCRAFT GUIDANCE LAW WITH TRAJECTORY CONSTRAINTS

This paper presents two new algorithms with guidance purposes for autonomous aircraft applications. The adopted approach to the guidance problem is based on a reference bearing instead of the classical way–point. The new guidance laws are an extension of an earlier nonlinear algorithm and are designed in the framework of variable structure systems. The aim of the new guidance laws is to improve the aircraft trajectory during wide-angle turns, if the motion is restricted to a plane, by constraining the radius of curvature.