Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

Robust Control System for Missiles in the Presence of

Uncertainty and Disturbances: A Comprehensive Review
Nasiya N1*, Amal A2
1
MTech Scholar, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, TKMCE, Kollam, India
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, TKMCE, Kollam, India

Abstract
Missiles perform in highly dynamic and uncertain environments where factors such as aerodynamic
disturbances, various atmospheric conditions, and sensor inaccuracies can drastically impact their
trajectory and effectiveness. Robust control systems are designed to mitigate those demanding situations by
means of incorporating techniques that can adapt to uncertainties and disturbances in real-time, ensuring
stable and precise control all through the flight trajectory. Without robust control mechanisms, missiles may
exhibit poor tracking accuracy, reduced stability, and compromised reliability, leading to diminished
mission success rates and increased susceptibility to interception or countermeasures. In this paper various
robust control approaches have been explored, including nonlinear disturbance observer-based control,
hybrid control strategies, extended state observer-based control, backstepping control, and finite-time
control methods. Each approach is analyzed in terms of its theoretical foundations, implementation details,
benefits, obstacles and also discusses the realistic implications and capacity applications of these robust
manipulate structures in enhancing the overall performance and reliability of missile steerage and manage
system.

Keywords: Autopilot, Disturbance observer, Backstepping control, Extended state observer, Ballistic missile.

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: 23522@tkmce.ac.in (Nasiya N), amala@tkmce.ac.in (Amal A)

INTRODUCTION

Missiles play a vital position in modern warfare and defense systems, where unique and agile
maneuvering is crucial for mission success. However, the inherent complexity of missile dynamics,
coupled with environmental disturbances and uncertainties in operating situations, affords ambitious
demanding situations for attaining accurate trajectory tracking and strong flight control. Uncertainties
in missile dynamics can arise from diverse assets, including aerodynamic variations, propulsion
machine dynamics, structural flexibility, and environmental elements together with wind gusts and
atmospheric disturbances. These uncertainties can extensively degrade the performance of traditional
control structures, leading to suboptimal trajectory monitoring and compromised task goals. Outside
disturbances, together with gusts, turbulence, and maneuvers by means of hostile targets, further
exacerbate the demanding situations faced by missile steering and control systems. These disturbances
introduce unpredictable perturbations into the gadget, necessitating robust management techniques able
to mitigate their outcomes and making sure sturdy performance beneath various running situations. In
response to these challenges, sturdy control methodologies have emerged as a promising approach to
enhance the overall performance and resilience of missile steerage and control structures. Robust
management techniques provide the capability to layout controllers that hold stability and gain desired
performance specifications notwithstanding uncertainties and disturbances. Additionally, robust control
systems contribute to increased operational flexibility, enabling missiles to adapt swiftly to evolving
threats and mission objectives while ensuring safe and reliable operation. The design and
implementation of robust control systems for missiles have become increasingly vital in current defense
situations, where trajectory monitoring and stable flight management are paramount for mission
fulfillment.
A non-linear disturbance observer-based robust control (NDOBRC) method is designed to deal with
disturbances and discontinuous uncertainties in nonlinear systems. This approach integrates a non-linear
disturbance observer with a composite control law to eliminate the effects of disturbances from output

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

channels. The existing disturbance observer-based control (DOBC) methods are used primarily when
the disturbances and uncertainties meet matching conditions, entering the system in the same direction
at the control inputs [1]. A robust hybrid control strategy is developed for the longitudinal autopilot
system of a ballistic missile to enhance the stability and response of missile during boost phase. This
method combines different control methods in a hybrid system, using their complementary strengths to
effectively limit the uncertainty and disturbances in missile dynamics. Current longitudinal autopilot
uses time-invariant passive resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) network, which does not consider time-
varying dynamics of missile. This can lead to instability in closed-loop systems during large
disturbances and dynamic uncertainties. The method uses gain-scheduling adaptive control strategies
which allows real-time adjustment of the controller gain based on missile performance. The proposed
longitudinal controller is tested through various scenarios for the validated nonlinear dynamic flight
model of the real ballistic missile system with autopilot exposed to external disturbances [2]. Extended
state observer (ESO) technique is used to design robust pitch autopilot for tactical missiles to estimate
and mitigate the effect of uncertainties and disturbances in the system. ESO is applied to ascertain
both system states and uncertainties that allows the robustification of input-output linearization-based
controller designed for the nominal system. This design does not depend on accurate plant models or
uncertainty information, and thus it can estimate uncertainties effectively as well as adequately
estimating states to meet specified tracking performance in real-world circumstances where there is
considerable uncertainty [3]. The paper [4] discusses the development of a highly accurate height
control sub-system for sea-skimming missiles and addresses the issues of sea waves as well as model
inaccuracy. Sea-skimming missiles need precise height control mechanisms to operate in lower
altitudes. Even in the event of rough sea conditions, the missiles need to fly closer to the surface of the
sea without being detected to cause as much damage to enemy ships as possible. The system is prone
to ocean waves disturbances, and if not properly treated the missile might dismount into the water.
Moreover, uncertainties connected with aerodynamic coefficients and autopilot models are additional
factors which impair the quality of the flight dynamics. The ESO-based approach assists the observer
to forecast changes and the system states attenuating uncertainties and external disturbances that are
treated as extended states of the original system. This approach of estimating and stopping the real-time
disturbances in a disturbance rejection feedback control with the main aim of the system being to meet
the objectives is the best that works optimally. [5] This paper provides a complete analysis on the design
of a robust nonlinear stabilizer for a highly maneuverable missile. The system is concerned with the
results of the six-degree-of-freedom, nonminimum phase, uncertain, and time-varying dynamics of air-
to-air tail-controlled missiles with un-modeled un-symmetric air pitches. Though the proposed model
has to deal with the system's nonlinearities and uncertainty, especially in bank-to-turn and skid-to-turn
approaches, it attempts to create robust backstepping. Implementation of the detailed dynamics model
of the missile is crucial for the designing of the robust controller. This model reflects the intricate
dynamics of the missile, enabling a more accurate control strategy. The paper [6] introduces a new
design of the Acceleration tracking pitch autopilot for a tail-controlled, skid to turn tactical missile. The
control methodology amalgamates the time-scale separation, feedback linearization (FL) and extended
state observer (ESO) techniques to guarantee a robust performance when uncertainties, disturbances,
un-modeled dynamics, measurement noises, control input saturation, and rate saturation occur. The
phenomena of pitch-plane dynamics is split into fast pitch-rate dynamics and slow acceleration
dynamics by taking the time-scale separation of these phenomena as an advantage. Feedback linearizing
controllers are designed and applied to each subsystem as independent units. ESOs are employed to
calculate uncertainties in every individual sub-system and these uncertainties are utilized to improve
the response speed of the linear controllers designed for the sub-systems in nominal conditions. One of
the important benefits of this design lifestyle is that no exact model of the plant is required and no
detailed information on uncertainties and disturbances is required. The paper [7] begins by presenting
the problems related with conventional missile guidance and control systems, such as softness to
disturbances and uncertainties. It stresses the necessity of developing the latest control techniques to
tackle these challenges and to increase the effectiveness of the missile systems. The proposed method
consists of two main components: ERG (Explicit Reference Governor) and the disturbance observer.
The ERG generates control commands by reference trajectory tracking while taking into account system

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

constraints with disturbance consideration. It provides for the missile follows the given trajectory while
being viable for conditions change and disturbances in real time. The role of the disturbance observer
is to estimate and compensate for the disturbance effects that affect the missile's dynamics. [8] Proposes
a novel method of improving accuracy of the representative of the missile acceleration autopilot. The
implemented method is using an Enhanced Extended State Observer (ESO) which estimates the
disturbances and uncertainties and so improves the system robustness and accuracy of the autopilot
system. The paper begins by pinpointing the challenges which are being faced by traditional missile
acceleration autopilots and emphasizes the great need for reliable control processes that can reduce
uncertainties and give a successful flight. It underlines the limitations of the existing control methods
and therefore leads to the need for advanced techniques which will find a way to boost the performance
of the acceleration autopilot. The method to be used is that of the extended state observer (ESO) which
is meant to estimate both the states of the missile system and the uncertainties/disturbances which lump
together representing its dynamics and response. The study [9] addresses the challenges associated with
designing robust autopilots for missiles, considering time-varying parameters and uncertainties in the
system. The paper proposes a novel approach based on robust backstepping control to address these
issues and enhance the performance of missile autopilots and highlights the importance of robust control
design for missile autopilots, particularly in the presence of time-varying parameters and uncertainties
inherent in missile dynamics. It emphasizes the need for advanced control techniques to ensure accurate
and stable flight control under varying operating conditions. The proposed method revolves around the
concept of robust backstepping control, which is a nonlinear control technique suitable for systems with
uncertainties and disturbances. [10] Novel approach to designing robust finite-time control strategies
for guidance laws, taking into account uncertainties inherent in missile dynamics. The paper emphasizes
the critical importance of robust control techniques in ensuring accurate and reliable guidance for
missiles, especially when facing dynamic and uncertain operating conditions. The proposed method
centers on the development of robust finite-time control algorithms tailored specifically for guidance
laws used in missile systems. Finite-time control aims to achieve stabilization and tracking objectives
within a finite time horizon, making it particularly suitable for applications requiring rapid response
and robust performance. The paper provides a detailed exposition of the mathematical framework
underlying the proposed robust finite-time control strategy. It begins by formulating the guidance law
with uncertainties in missile dynamics, identifying the key challenges associated with ensuring
robustness and accuracy in trajectory tracking. The proposed control approach leverages robust control
techniques, such as sliding mode control and disturbance observer-based control, to address
uncertainties and disturbances in the missile system effectively.

DIFFERENT ROBUST CONTROL TECHNIQUES FOR ENHANCED MISSILE

PERFORMANCE AND ANALYSIS

Non-Linear Disturbance Observer-Based Robust Control (NDOBRC):

The NDOBRC method combines a nonlinear feedback controller with a disturbance compensation
component. The disturbance compensation is designed primarily to prevent disturbance and the
composite control law is designed to include a feedback control law without considering disturbances
and a perturbation compensation gain vector is designed to account for and counteract simultaneous
disturbances. The method uses a nonlinear disturbance observer (NDOB) to account for unknown
disturbances in the system. An NDOB-based disturbance estimate is used in the composite control law
to compensate for disturbance. The NDOB acts as a 'patch' to the existing controller, increasing
disturbance mitigation and uncertainty resistance, and maintaining nominal performance in the
absence of disturbance and uncertainty there. The proposed method is applied to a missile system with
non-linear dynamics, considering disturbances such as external factors and model uncertainties to
demonstrate its feasibility and effectiveness under real-world conditions, and its successful
application to engineering systems [1].

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

Hybrid Control Strategies:

The robust hybrid control is obtained by designing reduced order linear quadratic regulator (LQR) in
conjunction with optimal tuning-compensator. Two kinds of gain scheduling controllers are designed
for the longitudinal autopilot are Gain-scheduled optimal tuning PID with actuator constraints and Gain-
scheduled optimal LQ in conjunction with optimal tuning compensator. Gain-scheduled optimal tuning-
PID with actuator constraints, supplies better response but requires a priori knowledge of the system
dynamics. Moreover, the controller has oscillatory response in the presence of dynamic uncertainty.
From the point of view of reliable flight control systems design, the purely optimal control design
methodologies based on the LQR has good stability properties but may be sensitive to off-nominal
conditions and the implementation requires all state variables as feedback, some of which however
cannot be easily measured. If an observer is used to reconstruct the state vector from available
measurements, then the optimal control system often has much less satisfactory stability property, and
the system performance is very much affected by parameter variations as well as satisfactory
disturbances. The use of rate gyro is recommended to solve the optimal LQR requirements [2].

Extended State Observer (ESO) Method:

ESO estimates both states of the system and uncertainties, taking into account combined impacts of
nonlinearities, model errors, external actions and uncertainties. By knowing the uncertainness of the
whole system and states within it, robustness can be improved in control systems through disturbance
rejection or compensation. The controller design follows an approach called Input-Output Linearization
(IOL) where discrepancies related to aerodynamic derivatives, modeling inaccuracies, and external
disturbances are lumped together as overall uncertainty to be estimated. In controller design, ESO is
integrated to estimate composite uncertainty along with output derivative in a unified fashion. The
design based on ESO does not need exact system models or knowledge about uncertainty
characteristics, but it is still robust enough and computationally efficient. Estimated uncertainties from
ESO are used to strengthen input-output linearization-based controller designed for the nominal system
[3].
Extended state-observer theory is proposed as an innovative method to estimate and remove sea-wave
movements in real time, which helps the missile track a low skimming trajectory precisely. ents and
autopilot models are additional factors which impair the quality of the flight dynamics. The ESO-based
approach assists the observer to forecast changes and the system states attenuating uncertainties and
external disturbances that are treated as extended states of the original system. This approach of
estimating and stopping the real-time disturbances in a disturbance rejection feedback control with the
main aim of the system being to meet the objectives is the best that works optimally [4].

Fig 1: Functional Block Diagram of the ESO-Based Controller

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

Backstepping Control:
The proposed backstepping control approach offers a potent solution to the complicated dynamics of a
remote guided missile with high maneuverability. The controller can exhibit top level performance in
maintaining stability and tracking targets in difficult situations by using advanced control techniques
and smartly dealing with uncertainties. The application of backstepping with multiple input-multiple
output is the key to the successful handling of large-scale nonlinearities and complex phenomena
involving a large extent of uncertainty. Therefore, it is a fundamental prerequisite for assuring stable
performance in systems where the parameters are quick to vary, disturbances appear, and unmodelled
dynamics occur. The uncertainties especially handled by the aerodynamic coefficients using bounding
functions that are derived from the gained experience in the past and the a priori information. The robust
sigmoid like control functions are applied for the zero order hold large compact filtering system to
overcome uncertain terms and improve the system robustness. The controller to be implemented, ideally
must be uniformly asymptotically stable, if not there will be some deviation from the specified objective
within a specific level of performance in both bank-to-turn and skid-to-turn conditions [5].
The key idea behind backstepping control is to design a series of Lyapunov functions and control laws
recursively to stabilize the system and reject disturbances effectively. It provides a detailed exposition
of the mathematical formulation of the robust backstepping control scheme tailored specifically for
missile autopilots. It elucidates the design procedure, including the derivation of Lyapunov functions,
the selection of control gains, and the synthesis of control laws to account for time-varying parameters
and uncertainties [9].

Finite Time Control Method:

Combining linear extended state observer (LESO) and adaptive non-singular fast terminal sliding mode
method, especially for dealing with existing uncertainties including time-varying parametric
perturbation and nonparametric disturbances in high order line-of-sight rates and target acceleration.
Sliding mode control offers robustness against uncertainties by driving the system trajectory onto a
predefined sliding surface, while disturbance observer-based control estimates and compensates for
external disturbances in real-time [10].

MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION AND ANALYSIS

ESO-Based Controller:
The ESO can estimate the uncertainties and the states of the system, which can enable disturbance
rejection or compensation. Unlike traditional observers, the ESO estimates the effect of uncertainties,
unmodeled dynamics, and external disturbances acting on the system as an extended state of the original
system. Therefore, in this section, an ESO-based controller is proposed to enhance the robustness of the
autopilot, as shown in figure 2.

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

Fig 2: Functional Block Diagram of the ESO-Based Controller

Consider the following single-input single-output dynamic system as,

𝑥1̇ = 𝑎𝑜 𝑥1 + 𝑏𝑜 µ + 𝑑 (1)
Choosing the disturbance ‘d’ as the extended state variable, we can rewrite the extended order system
as,
𝑥1̇ = 𝑎𝑜 𝑥1 + 𝑥2 + 𝑏𝑜 µ
𝑥2̇ = ℎ (2)
𝑦 = 𝑥1
where ‘h’ is the disturbance change rate and ‘y’ is the output of the system.
As shown in Fig. 2, the outputs of the slow ESO and fast ESO can be used to foster the design of the
DSC controller. So, we can write
1 𝜂ˆ−𝜂𝑐
𝑥2 = 𝑏 (−𝑎𝜂𝑜 (𝛼)𝜂ˆ − − 𝐵1 · 𝑠𝑔𝑛(𝜂ˆ − 𝜂𝑐 ) − 𝑑ˆ𝜂 + 𝜂𝑐̇ ) (3)
𝜂𝑜 (𝛼) 𝜏𝑠

1 𝑞ˆ−𝑞𝑐
µ=𝑏 (−𝑎𝑞 𝑜(𝛼) − − 𝐵2 · 𝑠𝑔𝑛(𝑞ˆ − 𝑞𝑐 ) − 𝑑ˆ𝑞 + 𝑞𝑐̇ ) (4)
𝑞𝑜 (𝛿) 𝜏𝑓

Closed-loop stability analysis:

Define the observation errors in the acceleration and disturbance for the slow ESO as,
𝑒𝜂𝑜1 = 𝜂 − 𝜂ˆ
𝑒𝜂𝑜2 = 𝑑𝜂 − 𝑑ˆ𝜂 (5)
1
Lyapunov equation for pitch rate tracking: 𝑉𝑞 = 𝑆𝑞𝑇 𝑆𝑞 and the stable region of the fast subsystem can
2
be obtained as,
|𝑆𝑞𝑇 | ⩽ 𝜏𝑓 (|𝑒𝑞𝑜2 | + |𝑒𝐿𝑅𝑓 | − 𝐵2 ) (6)
1
Lyapunov equation for the acceleration tracking: 𝑉𝜂 = 𝑆𝜂𝑇 𝑆𝜂 and the stable region of the slow
2
subsystem can be obtained as,
|𝑆𝜂𝑇 | ⩽ 𝜏𝑠 (|𝑒𝜂𝑜2 | − 𝐵1 ) (7)
Combining (6) and (7), the stable region of the ESO-based dynamic surface controller can be obtained
as,
𝐵1 ⩾ |𝑒𝜂𝑜2 |
𝐵2 ⩾ |𝑒𝑞𝑜2 | + |𝑒𝐿𝑝𝑓 | (8)
In all, the DSC controller parameters B1 and should B2 be selected according to the observation level of
the ESO relative to the disturbance. On the other hand, the controller parameters should be as small as
possible to avoid chattering of the control signals.

CONCLUSION

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

The review paper comprehensively analyzes the development of robust control systems for missiles in
the presence of uncertainty and disturbances. Through an in-depth examination of various research
articles, it is evident that researchers have made significant strides in addressing the challenges inherent
in missile dynamics and operation. The reviewed papers showcase a wide range of techniques, including
non-linear disturbance observer-based control, hybrid control strategies, extended state observer-based
designs, and robust backstepping methods, among others. These techniques aim to enhance stability,
tracking accuracy, resilience to dynamic variations, and overall performance of missile systems. By
integrating advanced control methodologies and leveraging disturbance observers, researchers have
demonstrated remarkable progress in mitigating the adverse effects of uncertainties and disturbances,
thereby bolstering the effectiveness and reliability of missile guidance and control systems. However,
further research is warranted to explore novel approaches and address emerging challenges to ensure
the continued advancement of robust control systems for missiles in diverse operational environments.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to the completion of this review
paper. Firstly, I extend our heartfelt appreciation to the authors of the primary studies we analyzed,
whose research laid the foundation for our work. I am also grateful to the reviewers and editors whose
insightful comments and suggestions significantly improved the quality and clarity of this manuscript.
Additionally, I acknowledge the support and guidance provided by our friends and mentors throughout
the writing process. Special thanks to Amal A, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering, for their invaluable assistance in data analysis and interpretation. I am indebted
to TKM College of Engineering, Kollam which made this research possible. Lastly, I would like to
thank our families for their unwavering encouragement and understanding during this endeavor. Their
love and support have been instrumental in our success. Thank you all for your contributions, without
this, publication would not have been possible.

REFERENCES

1. Yang, J., Chen, W. H., & Li, S. (2011). Non-linear disturbance observer-based robust control
for systems with mismatched disturbances/uncertainties. IET control theory & applications,
5(18), 2053-2062.
2. Wael, M. A., & Quan, Q. (2011). Robust hybrid control for ballistic missile longitudinal
autopilot. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 24(6), 777-788.
3. Godbole, A. A., Libin, T. R., & Talole, S. E. (2012). Extended state observer-based robust pitch
autopilot design for tactical missiles. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 226(12), 1482-1501.
4. Priyamvada, K. S., Olikal, V., Talole, S. E., & Phadke, S. B. (2011). Robust height control
system design for sea-skimming missiles. Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics, 34(6),
1746-1756.
5. Mattei, G., & Monaco, S. (2014). Nonlinear autopilot design for an asymmetric missile using
robust backstepping control. Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 37(5), 1462-1476.
6. Panchal, B., Subramanian, K., & Talole, S. E. (2018). Robust missile autopilot design using
two time-scale separation. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 54(3),
1499-1510.
7. Wang, P., Zhang, X., & Zhu, J. (2018). Integrated missile guidance and control: a novel explicit
reference governor using a disturbance observer. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,
66(7), 5487-5496.
8. Tian, J., Zhang, S., & Yang, H. (2020). Enhanced extended state observer based control for
missile acceleration autopilot. ISA transactions, 96, 143-154.

Department of EEE, CE Perumon

Fifth National Conference on Future Technologies in Power, Control and Communication Systems (NFTPCOS’24)

9. Lee, S., Kim, Y., Lee, Y., Moon, G., & Jeon, B. E. (2020). Robust-backstepping missile
autopilot design considering time-varying parameters and uncertainty. IEEE Transactions on
Aerospace and Electronic Systems, 56(6), 4269-4287.
10. Tao, F., Shi, J., Zhang, J., Fu, Z., & Gao, S. (2024). Robust Finite-Time Control for Guidance
Law with Uncertainties in Missile Dynamics. Journal of Aerospace Technology and
Management, 16, e0524.

Department of EEE, CE Perumon