An elementary study on a guidance of a rotating high speed vehicle

A method of controlling a spinning missile by gas jet impulses is studied and presented. The spinning effect of the vehicle is to average the uncertain aerodynamic force and give the stability by its gyro momentum. However, the missile spin axis has the minimum moment of inertia, therefore the induced nutation will diverge unless it is actively dumped. The principle of the induction of the nutation and its active damping algorithm are explained first. An attitude control system of a missile by gas jet impulses is designed and simulations are conducted. The result showed fine performance. However, in a practical application, many problems are left to be solved.