PROPORTIONAL NAVIGATION

Introduction

1. Proportional navigation guidance is used in a majority of tactical radar,

infrared (IR) and TV guided missiles. It gained popularity because of its
simplicity, effectiveness and ease of implementation.

Historical Background

2. The Lark missile which was first tested in December, 1950 successfully
was the first missile to use proportional navigation. However proportional
navigation dates back to World War II and was apparently known to the Germans
though they did not apply it practically in their missiles. Apparently proportional
navigation was studied by C.Yuan and others at the RCA Laboratories during
World War II sponsored by the U.S.Navy. It was implemented first by Hughes
Aircraft Company in a tactical missile using a pulsed radar system. Raytheon
further developed proportional navigation and implemented it in a tactical
continuous wave radar homing missile.

Definition

3. The proportional navigation guidance law basically generates acceleration

commands which are perpendicular to the instantaneous missile-target line-of-
sight (LOS). These acceleration commands are proportional to the LOS rate and
closing velocity and expressed mathematically as

_____________________________(1)

where is the acceleration command (m/sec2),

k is the effective navigation ratio (usually in the range 3 to 5),

is the missile-target closing velocity (m/sec), and

is the time derivative of the line-of-sight angle, , or simply the line-of-

sight rate (rad/sec).

4. The acceleration commands thus generated are given to the missile

autopilot (pitch or yaw) and by the movement of the control surfaces (or other
means of control such as thrust vector control or lateral divert engines or squibs
in case of exo-atmospheric strategic interceptors) the missile is made to move in
the desired direction towards the target.

5. The line-of-sight rate is usually measured by the seeker. The closing

velocity is measured by a Doppler radar in case of tactical radar homing missiles
whereas in tactical IR missiles or TV guided missiles, the closing velocity is
“guestimated”.

Two-Dimensional Engagement Geometry for Proportional Navigation

6. Consider a two-dimensional point mass missile-target engagement
geometry as shown in figure below:-

The co-ordinate system used is that of inertial co-ordinates fixed to the surface
of a flat-Earth model. Thus the components of acceleration and velocities along
the two axes or directions can be integrated without having to worry about the
additional terms due to the Coriolis effect. Axis 1 represents the down range
whereas axis 2 may represent the altitude or cross-range.

7. Assumptions

(a) Both the missile and target are assumed as point masses travelling
at constant velocity.

(b) The gravitational and drag effects are neglected for simplicity.

8. Derivation

(a) Consider that the missile is heading towards the target with a
velocity, Vm, and lead angle, L, with respect to the line-of-sight. The lead angle is
theoretically the angle at which the missile must be oriented to be on a collision
triangle with the target. If the missile is on the correct lead angle, no further
acceleration commands are required for the missile to hit the target.
 (b) In practice, the missile is launched towards an approximate
intercept point since we do not know in advance what the target will do in future.
Thus the missile will not be exactly on a collision triangle initially. The initial
angular deviation of the missile from the collision triangle is known as heading
error (HE).

(c) The imaginary line connecting the missile and target is known as
line-of-sight (LOS). The angle the LOS makes with respect to the fixed reference
axis 1 is denoted as λ.

(d) The instantaneous separation in range between the missile and

target is denoted as RTM.

(e) The guidance will be considered proper if and only if the range
between the missile and the target at the expected time of intercept is as small
as possible or zero. The point of closest approach of missile and target is known
as miss distance.

(f) The closing velocity, vc, is defined as the negative rate of change of
the distance from the missile to the target, i.e.,

_______________________________(2)

At the end of the engagement, i.e., when the missile and target are in closest
proximity, the sign of vc will change. From calculus, a function is either
minimum or maximum when its derivative is zero. Thus when RTM is minimum,
closing velocity velocity will be zero.

(g) The velocity of the target is denoted as VT and the target

acceleration perpendicular to the target velocity vector is denoted as nT. Thus
the angular velocity of the target can be expressed as

_________________________________(3)

where β is the flight path angle of the target which can be obtained by
integrating eqn.(3). Thus the target velocity components with respect to the two
axes 1 and 2 is given as

_________________________(4)

__________________________(5)

Since velocity is rate of change of position, it follows that

____________________________(6)

____________________________(7)

where RT1 and RT2 are the components of target position along axis 1 and 2
respectively.
 (h) The missile acceleration components with respect to the two axes
are given by aM1 and aM2. The missile velocity and position components can be
expressed as differential equations involving the missile acceleration
components as

___________________________(8)

___________________________(9)

__________________________(10)

__________________________(11)

9. Calculation of Missile Acceleration Components

The missile acceleration components can be found from the components of

relative missile-target separation as follows:-

(a) The components of relative missile-target separation along axis 1

and 2 can be defined as

___________________(12)

___________________(13)

(b) Using trigonometry, the line of sight angle in terms of the relative
separation components can be found as

_____________________(14)

(c) In a similar manner, the components of relative velocity along axis

1 and 2 are defined as

___________________(15)

___________________(16)

(d) The relative separation between the target and missile R TM can be
expressed in terms of its inertial components along axis 1 and 2 by application of
distance formula as

______________(17)

(e) Differentiating equation (17) and adding a negative sign gives the
closing velocity vc as

__________________(18)
Since the derivative of position is velocity, eqn.(18) can be rewritten as

________________(19)

(f) Differentiating eqn.(14) gives the line of sight rate as

__________________________(20)

The missile acceleration command (nc) can be found by substituting equations

(19) and (20) in equation (1). The missile acceleration components in the Earth
co-ordinates are given from trigonometry as

______________________________(21)

_______________________________(22)

10. Initial Conditions

A missile employing proportional navigation is fired in a direction to lead

the target and thus forms a collision triangle with the line-of-sight. The angle
between the instantaneous missile path or its velocity vector and the line-of-
sight is called the missile lead angle, L. The theoretical missile lead angle can be
found by application of law of sines as

________________________(23)

Since there is an initial angular deviation of the missile from collision triangle
given by the heading error, HE, the initial missile velocity components in terms
of the theoretical lead angle, L, and actual heading error, HE, can be expressed
as

_______________(24)

________________(25)

Reference

Paul Zarchan, “Tactical & Strategic Missile Guidance”, Vol 199, Progress in
Astronautics & Aeronautics, A Volume in AIAA Tactical Missile Series.