The orbital injection accuracy of any payload depends on the calibre of the inertial guidance system used on board the launch vehicle. This paper outlines the mission definition and the rationale for the selection of a proper guidance system to meet final mission objectives. The functions and the architecture of the navigation, guidance and control are discussed. The developmental aspects of the sophisticated inertial sensors, inertial systems, associated complex electronics, on-board computers, control actuators and systems are reported. The complexity of the on-board control and guidance software and the test and evaluation procedures used for their validation are included. The general scheme of the inertial guidance systems and the critical role played by them in the realization of Indian satellite launch vehicles SLV-3, ASLV and PSLV are presented in brief.

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Explicit vg guidance algorithm for a solid powered closed loop guidance mission

Development of navigation guidance and control technology for Indian launch vehicles

Introduction T prospect of preparing a comprehensive history of space guidance and navigation was, initially, a delight to contemplate. But, as the unproductive weeks went by, the original euphoria was gradually replaced by a sense of pragmatism. I reasoned that the historical papers which had the greatest appeal were written by "old timers" telling of their personal experiences. Since I had lived through the entire space age, and had the good fortune of being involved in many of the nation's important aerospace programs, I decided to narrow the scope to encompass only that of which I had personal knowledge. (It is, however, a sobering thought that you might qualify as an ' 'old timer.") The story begins in the early 1950's when the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (later to become the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.) was chosen by the Air Force Western Development Division to provide a self-contained guidance system backup to Convair in San Diego for the new Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile. The work was contracted through the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, and the technical monitor for the MIT task was a young engineer named Jim Fletcher who later served as the NASA Administrator. The Atlas guidance system was to be a combination of an on-board autonomous system, and a ground-based tracking and command system. This was the beginning of a philosophic controversy, which, in some areas, remains unresolved. The self-contained system finally prevailed in ballistic missile applications for obvious reasons. In space exploration, a mixture of the two remains. The electronic digital computer industry was in its infancy then, so that an on-board guidance system could be mechanized only with analog components. Likewise, the design and analysis tools were highly primitive by today's standards. It is difficult to appreciate the development problems without considering the available computational aids.

Explicit vg guidance algorithm for a solid powered closed loop guidance mission

Citations

Development of navigation guidance and control technology for Indian launch vehicles

References

Space guidance evolution - A personal narrative

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