International Journal Of Advances in Engineering and Management (IJAEM)

Volume 1, Issue 5, November - 2014.

Design of Missile Two-Loop Auto-Pilot Pitch Using Root Locus

1
Rami Ali Abdalla, 2Muawia Mohamed Ahmed, 3Eltahir Mohamed Hussein
1
P.G. Student, Department of Control Engineering, Faculty of Engineering College, El.Neelain University Kh, Sudan
(E-mail id: rami_20236@hotmail.com)
2
Associate Professor, Department of control Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, El.Neelain University, Kh, Sudan
(E-mail id: muawia15858@hotmail.com)
3
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Sudan University of Since and Technology, Kh,
Sudan
(E-mail id: Altahir_33@yahoo.com)

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Abstract: The present paper aims at designing of Automatic Landing System for MISSILE based on Root Locus modern control
system. The control method is used to determine the gains of the controllers to apply the Root Locus method. The block diagram of the
proposed control system with required controller gains is established. The transfer functions for open loop and then the closed loop
are obtained based on automatic control principles. The Root Locus for open loop is drawn and then gain (K) values are found for
given damping ratios. Finally the step responses of the closed loop system with automatic landing system controller auto-pilot were
drawn. The digital simulation results have proven the effectiveness of proposed control system in terms of fast response in the
presence of external disturbances.
Keywords: MISSILE, Two-loop Auto-pilot, Pitch Attitude, Root-Locus.
-------------------------------- ● --------------------------------

1. Introduction
The missile flight control system is one element of the overall homing loop [2]. Due to the wide parameter variation and
stringent performance requirements, missile auto-pilot design is a challenging task. The traditional method of guaranteeing stability in
the presence of aerodynamic parameter variation or uncertainty is the gain scheduling control strategy. Modern air-to-air or surface-to-
air missiles need large and uncertain flight envelopes, for which accurate aerodynamic parameters are difficult or extremely expensive
to obtain from wind tunnel tests; also, the gain scheduling controllers need more operating points. The control objective for these
missiles is to ensure accurate interception, with guaranteed robustness, without sacrificing maneuverability. For this purpose, many
advanced modern control theories have been extensively studied by numerous researchers to address this problem[3]. A Guided
missile is one which receives steering commands from the guided system to improve its accuracy. Guidance system actually gives
command to the auto-pilot to activate the controls to achieve the correction necessary. Auto-pilot is an automatic control mechanism
for keeping the spacecraft in desired flight path. An auto-pilot in a missile is a close loop system and it is a minor loop inside the main
guidance loop. If the missile carries accelerometer and rate gyros to provide additional feedback into the missile servos to modify the
missile motion then the missile control system is usually called an autopilot. When the auto-pilot controls the motion in the pitch and
the yaw plane, they are called lateral auto-pilot. For a symmetrical cruciform missile pitch and the yaw auto-pilots are identical [4]. As
with phase lag and phase lead compensation, the purpose of lag-lead compensator design in the frequency domain generally is to
satisfy specifications on steady-state accuracy and phase margin. Typically, there is also a specification (implicitly or explicitly) on
gain crossover frequency or closed-loop bandwidth. A phase margin specification can represent a requirement on relative stability due
to pure time delay in the system, or it can represent desired transient response characteristics that have been translated from the time
domain into the frequency domain. A specification on bandwidth or crossover frequency can represent a requirement on speed of
response in the time domain or a frequency-domain requirement on which sinusoidal frequencies will be passed by the system without
significant attenuation [5].

2. Missile Autopilot Overview

Guided missiles have assumed much importance in recent years. A guided missile is one which receives steering commands
from the guided system to improve its accuracy. Guided action for guided missiles may be defined as the process of gathering
information concerning the flight of a missile towards a given objective or target and utilising this information to develop
manoeuvring commands to the control system of the missile. Guidance system functions by comparing the actual path of the missile
with the desired path and providing commands to the control system which will result in manoeuvring the missile to its desired path.
Guidance system actually gives command to the auto-pilot to activate the controls to achieve the correction necessary. Auto-pilots are
closed loop system and these are minor loops inside the main guidance loop. An auto-pilot may be defined as the missile control
system which modify the missile motion according to accelerometer and / or gyros feedback which provide information about the
missile acceleration and body rate respectively. A lateral auto-pilot receives guidance command from the guided system of the missile
to produce desired missile acceleration in lateral planes to follow the guidance path needed to the target. The autopilot responses to
guidance system demand by deflecting the control surfaces of the missile for aerodynamic controlled missiles. The deflections in

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control surfaces produce change in missile angle of incidence. If the incidence angle is changed, the forces acting on the missile body
changes and it results in change in missile acceleration. The two-loop auto-pilot system uses two-loops to feedback information of
missile motion to the forward path of the autopilot. One loop is involved with body rate information which is fed back using one rate
gyro. The other is the missile acceleration, sensed using accelerometer and provides the main feedback. The auto-pilot system results
in change in missile motion. So, modelling of missile airframe dynamics is an important part of configuring an autopilot system.
Missile dynamics is of non linear type. For configuring missile dynamics in transfer function form the missile airframes are trimmed
and then linearized[1].The following block diagrams (fig. 1 represents the transfer function model of flight path rate demand two- loop
auto-pilot in pitch plane).[5]

Fig. 1 Conventional Flight Path Rate Demand Two-Loop Auto-pilot Configuration

Where G1 and G2 are the Aerodynamic transfer function, G3 is the Actuator transfer function, 𝜸 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑔h𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑡h 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒;𝑞 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐h
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝒘𝒂 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝜻𝒂 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝑲𝑷,𝑲𝒒,𝑲𝒃 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡h𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠, 𝒘𝒃 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑡h𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑐𝑘
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦, 𝑻𝒂 𝑖𝑠 𝑡h𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡h𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒, 𝜼 𝑖𝑠 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛; 𝝈 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑤h𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑡h𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠
𝑜𝑓𝑛𝑜𝑛−𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑝h𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑠, 𝒘𝒊 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. The open loop model i.e. the cascaded combination- 𝐺1𝐺2𝐺3 of fig. 1 can be
converted to the corresponding state space model given by 𝑋 = 𝐴𝑥 = 𝐵𝑢 & 𝑦 = 𝐶𝑥 (discussed in the next section) and the
conventional two-loop configuration can be converted to an equivalent state space model. The open loop model of two loop autopilot (Fig.
1)

Fig. 2 Four State Variables

can be converted to state variable form based on the following four state variables: 𝑥1=𝛾 𝐹𝑙𝑖𝑔h𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑡h 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 ; 𝑥2=𝑞 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑐h
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 ; 𝑥3= 𝜂 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ; 𝑥4=𝜂 (𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐h𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 Out of them 𝑥1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑥𝟐 have been considered
to be as outputs. Thus two-loop autopilot model is a SIMO (single input – multiple outputs) system. Such that the A, B & C matrices
become (taken from [5]).

3. Methodology
The methodology followed to achieve the desired system in this paper is could be stated as, first of all it was the modeling of
the system this includes, Setting of the aircraft equations of the motion and Derivation of the transfer function and state space, then
comes the setting the requirement and testing the controller with different gains and analyzing the result to obtain the final desired
controller.

A. Transfer Function and State-Space Two-Loop Auto-pilot

Recognizing the fact that the modeling equations above are already in the state-variable form, they can be rewrite as matrices
as shown below.

1 (1 + 𝜎 2 𝑤𝑏2 ) 𝐾𝑏 𝜎 2 𝑤𝑏2
− − −𝐾𝑏 𝜎 2 𝑤𝑏2
𝑇𝑎 𝑇𝑎 𝑇𝑎 0
2 2
(1 + 𝑤𝑏 𝑇𝑎 ) 1 2 2 2
𝐾𝑏 𝑊𝑏 𝑇𝑎 (1 − 𝜎 𝑇𝑎 ) 0
𝐴= − 0 ;𝐵 = 0 (1𝑎)
𝑇𝑎 (1 + 𝜎 2 𝑤𝑏2 ) 𝑇𝑎 (1 + 𝜎 2 𝑤𝑏2 )
𝐾𝑞 𝑤𝑏2
0 0 0 1
0 0 −𝑊𝑎2 −2𝜁𝑎 𝑊𝑎

1 0 0 0
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶 = (1𝑏)
0 1 0 0

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 State Space
Now the state space equivalent model of conventional two-loop auto-pilot (Fig.1) can be represented by the state space
equation given by (1a & 1b).
𝑥1
−2.77 1.1860 2.8894 0.4269 𝑥 0
2
0 0 0 1 𝑥3 + 0
𝐴= 𝑢 (2𝑎)
−50.6161 −508.388 2.77 0 𝑥4 0
0 −32400 0 −216.0 𝑥 −38881
5

𝑥1
𝑥2
1 0 0 0 𝑥
𝑌= 3 (2𝑏)
0 1 0 0 𝑥
4
𝑥5

Numerical Values
The following numerical data for a class of guided missile have been considered for MATLAB simulation [5].

 Transfer Function Of Two-Loop Auto-pilot In Pitch Plane

Dynamical stability analysis is performed in the following section using Matlab software for examining the roots of the
characteristic equation. The function ss is used for creating state-space model within the Matlab enviroment, which takes the model
data as input and produces ss object that store this data in a single Matlab variable. Transfer function is by matlab in the following
manner: Wo=tf(system).

−1660 𝑆 2 − 3.648𝑒08 𝑆 − 2.344𝑒06

1: (3)
𝑆 4 + 727.2 𝑆 3 + 1.12𝑒05 𝑆 2 + 7.585𝑒04 𝑆 − 1670

−3888 𝑆 2 − 1.987𝑒06 𝑆 − 6.044𝑒06

2: (4)
𝑆 4 + 727.2 𝑆 3 + 1.12𝑒05 𝑆 2 + 7.585𝑒04 𝑆 − 1670

The resulting closed-loop step response is shown Figure 2.

Fig. 2 Step response of original Two loop autopilot

 Design requirements
The next step is to choose some design criteria. In this example we will design a feedback controller so that in response to a
step command of pitch angle the actual pitch angle the design requirements are the following.
 Overshoot less than 10%
 Rise time less than 2 seconds
 Settling time less than 10 seconds
 Steady-state error less than 2%

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Controller synthesis can be done using different frequency or time-domain methods. The root locus technique is applied in
this paper, the discussion of which is presented below. This technique provides graphical information in the complex plane on the
trajectory of the roots of the characteristic equation for variations in one or more system parameters. Since the roots placement in the
complex plane governs the type of the response that can be expected to occur, the ability to view the movement of the roots in the
complex plane, as one or more system parameters are varied, turns out to be very useful.
The roots of the closed-loop characteristic equation are obtained using graphical-user interface (GUI) within Matlab named
SISO Design Tool, designated for controller design using root locus technique, among others. At the beginning, a designer can pick
one of the feedback control system structures, and import transfer functions from Matlab’s workspace.
The root locus and the closed-loop step response plot of the transfer function 1 defined in Fig.3.

Fig.3 root locus and the closed-loop step response plot of the transfer function 1.

The root locus and the closed-loop step response plot of the transfer function 2 defined in Fig. 4

Fig. 4 Root Locus and the closed-loop step response plot of the transfer function 2.

B. Lead Compensation
The transfer function of a typical lead compensator is the following, where the zero is smaller than the pole, that is, it is
closer to the imaginary axis in the complex plane.
𝑆−𝑍
𝐶 𝑆 =𝐾 (5)
𝑆−𝑃

In order to see the effect of moving the pole of the lead compensator, you can enter different numerical values under the
Compensator Editor tab. Any changes in the compensator here will be reflected in the root locus plot. Alternatively, you can tune the
compensator graphically directly from the root locus plot. Specifically, if you click on the open-loop pole at -3 (marked by a red x)
you can then slide the pole along the real axis and observe how the root locus plot changes. Specifically, you should see that as you
move the pole to the left, the root locus gets pulled farther to the left (and further into our desired region)[7]. Then by clicking the
Show Analysis Plot button a window entitled LTI Viewer for SISO Design Task displaying the system's closed-loop step response
will open. You can also identify some characteristics of the step response. Specifically, right-click on the figure and under
Characteristics choose Settling Time. Then repeat for Rise Time.

4. Simulation Results
The simulations are carried out in MATLAB environment and the results obtained are shown in Fig.5, Fig.6, Fig.7, Fig.8, Fig.9 and
Fig.10.

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Fig. 5 control and estimation tool manager of the transfer function 1.

Fig. 6 SISO design for the transfer function 1.

Fig.7 Closed-loop step response of the transfer function 1.

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 Design of Missile Two-Loop Auto-Pilot Pitch Using Root Locus
Fig. 8 control and estimation tool manager of the transfer function 2.

Fig. 9 SISO design for the transfer function 2.

Fig.10 Closed-loop step response of the transfer function 2.

5. Conclusions
The accomplished dynamical behavior of the missile two-loop auto-pilot, with selected prefilter and compensator transfer
function parameters completely satisfies the design requirements. It can be concluded that steady-state error was completely
eliminated and the overshoot value of 9.08, while settling time value around 0.0786 s and rise time value of 0.055 s for transfer
function1. steady-state error completely eliminated and overshoot value of 3.42, while settling time value of 0.236 s and rise time
value of 0.0236 s for the second transfer function.

REFERENCES
[1] Jyoti Prasad Singha Thakur, Amit Mukhopadhyay, 2013, “A Simple Design Approach In Yaw Plane For Two Loop Lateral Autopilots”,
International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology.
[2] Paul B. Jackson, 2010, “Overview of Missile Flight Control Systems”, Johns Hopkins Apl Technical Digest.
[3] He Shao-ming, Lin De-fu, 2014”, Missile two-loop acceleration autopilot design based on L1 adaptive output feedback control”, Intl J. of
Aeronautical & Space Sci.
[4] A. Chowdhury and S. Das, 2013, “Analysis and Design of Missile Two Loop Autopilot”, Advance in Electronic and Electric Engineering.
[5] Parijat Bhowmick, Prof. Gourhari Das, 2012, “ Modification of Classical Two Loop Autopilot Design using PI Controller and Reduced
Order Observer (DGO)”, International Journal of Engineering Research and Development.
[6] Branimir Stojiljković - Ljubiša Vasov, Časlav Mitrović, Dragan Cvetković, 2009, “ The Application of the Root Locus Method for the
Design of Pitch Controller of an F-104A Aircraft”, Strojniški vestnik - Journal of Mechanical Engineering.

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