Loop shaping design for missile autopilots: Controller configurations and weighting filter selection

The design of a homing, tail-controlled missile autopilot using a loop shap ing approach is considered. The designer input in this control methodology consists of a set of shaping filters that in turn lead to an H-infinity, op timal controller that guarantees stability. Several configurations are cont rasted, These differ as to the location in the loop of the shaping filters and optimal controller. It is shown that the choice of configuration has im plications as to the form of the shaping filters. It is also demonstrated h ow intuition from classical three-loop controllers can be used to select th ese filters. Finally, for one configuration, analytic formulas for a set of generic shaping filters are derived that lead to good tracking performance and robustness margins.