Tactical Missiles

Autopilot Design

Aerodynamic Control

— D Viswanath
 Acknowledgment

I am most grateful to my Dr. S. E. Talole, for introducing me to this subject. His

teachings have been my source of motivation throughout this work.

(D Viswanath)
Feb 2011

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 Synopsis

Broadly speaking autopilots either control the motion in the pitch and yaw planes, in
which they are called lateral autopilots, or they control the motion about the fore and
aft axis in which case they are called roll autopilots. Lateral ”g” autopilots are designed
to enable a missile to achieve a high and consistent ”g” response to a command. They
are particularly relevant to SAMs and AAMs. There are normally two lateral autopilots,
one to control the pitch or up-down motion and another to control the yaw or left-right
motion.

The requirements of a good lateral autopilot are very nearly the same for command
and homing systems but it is more helpful initially to consider those associated with
command systems where guidance receiver produces signals proportional to the mis-
alignment of the missile from the line of sight (LOS).

The effectiveness of a guided missile weapon system, in terms of accuracy and prob-
ability of kill, depends greatly on the response characteristics of the complete guidance,
control, and airframe loop. Since the accuracy or effectiveness of a guided missile de-
pends greatly on the dynamics of the missile, particularly during the terminal phase of
its flight, it is often desirable to predict its flight dynamics in the early preliminary-design
phase to assure that a reasonably satisfactory missile configuration is realized.

The missile control methods can be broadly classified under aerodynamic control and
thrust vector control. Aerodynamic control can be further classified into Cartesian and
polar control methods while thrust vector control can be further classified under gim-
baled motors, flexible nozzles (ball and socket), interference methods (spoilers/vanes),
secondary fluid or gas injection and vernier engines (external or extra engines). Aero-
dynamic control methods are generally used for tactical missiles.

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Contents

Acknowledgment 1

Synopsis 2

Contents 3

1 Modeling Roll, Pitch and Yaw Dynamics Using Aerodynamic Deriva-

tives 1

1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Translational and Rotational Dynamics of Missile Autopilot . . . . . . . 1

1.2.1 Dynamics of Yaw Autopilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2.2 Dynamics of Pitch Autopilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2.3 Dynamics of Roll Autopilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 Roll Dynamics using Aerodynamic Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3.1 Normalized Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.3.2 Example[1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3.3 Transfer Function Form of Roll Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

References 5

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Chapter 1

Modeling Roll, Pitch and Yaw

Dynamics Using Aerodynamic
Derivatives

1.1 Introduction

Aerodynamic derivatives are devices enabling control engineers to obtain transfer

functions defining the response of a missile to aileron, elevator or rudder inputs. With
the roll, pitch and yaw dynamics under consideration, aerodynamic derivatives are force
derivatives if they are used in force equation and moment derivatives if they are used in
moment equation.

1.2 Translational and Rotational Dynamics of Mis-

sile Autopilot

The final simplified equations for forces and moments acting on the missile which rep-
resent the translational and rotational dynamics of the missile respectively were derived
in Chapter 2 as follows: -

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1.2.1 Dynamics of Yaw Autopilot

It can be seen that the equations

dv
Y = m( + rU ) (1.1)
dt
N = ṙIz

are coupled and produce moments about z axis or torque about z axis or the yaw
movement and are used for design of yaw autopilot.

1.2.2 Dynamics of Pitch Autopilot

Similarly the eqns

dw
Z = m( − qU ) (1.2)
dt
M = q̇Iy

are for pitching dynamics and are used for design of pitch autopilot.

1.2.3 Dynamics of Roll Autopilot

The roll autopilot dynamics is represented by the equation

L = ṗIx (1.3)

1.3 Roll Dynamics using Aerodynamic Derivatives

The roll dynamics can be rewritten as given below:-

ṗIx = L (1.4)

where p is the angular velocity about the x-axis; Ix is the moment of inertia about the
x-axis and L is the total rolling moment acting on the missile.

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 The total rolling moment L is a function of the angular velocity p and the aileron
deflection ξ, i.e.,

L = L(p, ξ) (1.5)

Hence using partial derivatives, the roll dynamics can be expressed as follows:-
∂L ∂L
ṗIx = ξ+ p (1.6)
∂ξ ∂p
∂L ∂L
The partial derivatives ∂ξ
and ∂p
are also known as the aerodynamic moment derivatives
and represented by Lξ and Lp respectively. In other words, Lξ is the roll moment
derivative due to aileron deflection ξ and Lp is the roll moment derivative due to angular
velocity p. Thus

ṗIx = Lξ ξ + Lp p (1.7)

Note:- Lξ is not a linear function of ξ due to two reasons:-

(i) Aileron effectiveness decreases with total incidence θ.

(ii) For a given θ, Lξ is not a linear function of ξ, although the graph passes through
origin.

However, bearing in mind that in most applications ξ is unlikely to exceed a few degrees
we can consider Lξ as constant.

1.3.1 Normalized Form

The normalised form of roll dynamics using aerodynamic dervatives can be expressed
considering the moment of inertia Ix (or A) to be constant as follows:-

ṗIx = Lξ ξ + Lp p (1.8)
Lξ Lp
ṗ = ξ+ p
Ix Ix
ṗ = lξ ξ + lp p

where lξ and lp are the normalised roll moment derivatives.

Sign Convention for Roll Moments Positive aileron deflection results in the sign
of moments being negative. Hence Lξ and Lp are negative values.

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1.3.2 Example[1]

Consider an air to air homing missile whose roll moment of inertia is A = 0.96Kgm2
and is assumed to fly at a constant height of 1500m. The table 1.1 shows that the roll
derivatives, aerodynamic gains and time constants vary largely due to the variability in
the launch speeds in the range of M = 1.4 to M = 2.8.

Various quantities M = 1.4 M = 1.6 M = 1.8 M = 2.0 M = 2.4 M = 2.8

−Lξ 7050 8140 9100 10200 11700 13500
−Lp 22.3 24.9 27.5 30.3 34.5 37.3
−A
Ta = 0.043 0.0385 0.0349 0.0316 0.0278 0.0257
Lp
Lξ
316 327 331 336 340 362
Lp

Table 1.1: Roll Derivatives, Gains and Time Constants

1.3.3 Transfer Function Form of Roll Dynamics

Thus the above equation of roll dynamics where aerodynamic derivatives have been
used can now be easily expressed in transfer function form where the input is the aileron
deflection (ξ) and output is the roll rate (p).

Using Laplace Transforms

ṗ = lξ ξ + lp p (1.9)
sp(s) = lξ ξ(s) + lp p(s)
(s − lp )p(s) = lξ ξ(s)
p(s) lξ
=
ξ(s) (s − lp )

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References

[1] P. Garnell, Guided Weapon Control Systems. London: Brassey’s Defence Publishers,
1980.