Fundamentals of Aerospace Navigation and Guidance

This text covers fundamentals in navigation of modern aerospace vehicles. It is an excellent resource for both graduate students and practicing engineers.

Pierre T. Kabamba (Author), Anouck R. Girard (Author)

9781107070943, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 August 2014

334 pages, 121 b/w illus. 115 exercises
26.1 x 18.3 x 2.6 cm, 0.88 kg

'It is a pleasure for me to review this book written by [Professor] Kabamba and [Professor] Girard, and, as a former Ph.D. student of the late [Professor] Kabamba, it is also an honor … The material is presented in quintessential Kabamba fashion: simple and elegant. The key ideas are outlined very clearly at the end of every chapter so that the reader does not get lost in the details of the treatment … this book is an important addition to the topic of applied modern control systems, especially given the push toward greater autonomy for robotic systems in the near future. The authors have done an admirable job of piecing together the most important results from linear systems and optimal control theory in a clear and compact fashion and have shown the power of these methods via their application to aerospace navigation and guidance.' Suman Chakravorty, IEEE Systems Control Magazine

This text covers fundamentals used in the navigation and guidance of modern aerospace vehicles, in both atmospheric and space flight. It can be used as a textbook supporting a graduate level course on aerospace navigation and guidance, a guide for self-study, or a resource for practicing engineers and researchers. It begins with an introduction that discusses why navigation and guidance ought to be considered together and delineates the class of systems of interest in navigation and guidance. The book then presents the necessary fundamentals in deterministic and stochastic systems theory and applies them to navigation. Next, the book treats optimization and optimal control for application in optimal guidance. In the final chapter, the book introduces problems where two competing controls exercise authority over a system, leading to differential games. Fundamentals of Aerospace Navigation and Guidance features examples illustrating concepts and homework problems at the end of all chapters.

1. Introduction
2. Deterministic systems theory
3. Stochastic systems theory
4. Navigation
5. Homing guidance
6. Ballistic guidance
7. Midcourse guidance
8. Optimization
9. Optimal guidance
10. Introduction to differential games
Epilogue
A. Useful definitions and mathematical results
A.1. Results from topology
A.2. Results from linear algebra
A.3. Taylor's theorem
A.4. Newton's method
A.5. The implicit function theorem.

Subject Areas: Aerospace & aviation technology [TRP], Engineering thermodynamics [TGMB], Engines & power transmission [TGBN], Technical design [TBD], Particle & high-energy physics [PHP], Nonlinear science [PBWR], Mathematical modelling [PBWH]