Paul Zarchan
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 928
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The fifth edition of this best-selling title has three new chapters on important topics related to improving missile guidance performance and several important new concepts in the Appendix. The first new chapter presents several alternative ways of developing guidance laws numerically. These techniques can be used to derive more advanced guidance laws when the missile guidance system dynamics become very complex. An example is presented showing the advantages of a new advanced guidance law over more conventional guidance laws. Previous editions of the text have shown that intentional or unintentional spiraling maneuvers on the part of a tactical ballistic missile can also make it particularly difficult for a pursuing missile to hit. Estimating the target weave frequency is a critical component in advanced guidance laws that can be used to counter these spiraling threats. The second new chapter presents a linear Kalman filter bank approach, originally introduced in the 1960's, for accurately estimating the target weave frequency and improving missile guidance system performance.So far, all of the engagement simulations presented in this text have either been in one or two dimensions. This was done to make it easier for the reader to more easily understand all of the concepts presented in the text. The third new chapter provides several examples on how to convert previous engagement simulation code to three dimensions in both the tactical and strategic worlds. A simplified mapping database is included with the text in order to demonstrate how geographical context can be provided in three dimensional strategic engagement simulations. An example of one of the new concepts presented in the Appendix is the use of the discrete Fourier Transform for calculating the miss due to weaving targets. Together with numerous new examples and easy-to-understand graphs and explanations, readers with varied learning styles will find ""Tactical and Strategic Missile Guidance"" a staple for any aerospace engineer's library. Companion software, in both Macintosh and IBM-compatible versions, contains source code listings in FORTRAN, C, and MATLAB[registered] languages.A detailed set of appendices not only serves as a user's guide but also explains how the text's FORTRAN source can easily be converted to either C or MATLAB. The conversion technique plus detailed source code examples will be tools of interest to all engineers, regardless of whether you specialize in missile guidance or other aerospace-related fields.