ADVANCED HOMING GUIDANCE SYSTEM AND METHOD

A guidance system for directing a vehicle toward a target which includes a measurement processing section, a target state estimator, and a command processing section. The measurement processing section determines the inertial orientation and length of a line-of-sight vector which conceptually connects the vehicle with the target from measurements taken by a plurality of sensors. The target state estimator provides an estimation of the speed and angular aspect of the target relative to line-of-sight vector, by relating the vehicle and the target to each other through a mechanical conceptualization. This mechanical conceptualization treats the line-of-sight as a collapsible rod which is connected at one end through a mechanical gimbal set, and connected at the other end through a universal joint with four degrees of freedom. The command processing section generates command signals for the autopilot of the vehicle. These command signals seek to minimize the angular difference between the relative velocity vector of the vehicle with respect to the target and the line-of-sight vector to the target.