MISSILE GUIDANCE & CONTROL

Missile Guidance & Control

Missile guidance and control systems are crucial for a missile accurately reaching its intended target working by continuously determining the missile’s position, velocity, and orientation, then generating commands to correct its flight path. Typically, missile guidance system consists of sensors, a navigation unit, a control unit, and actuators such as fins or thrust-vector controls. Together they form a closed-loop system that measures errors between the missile’s desired and actual trajectory and applies real time corrections.  Common guidance methods include inertial guidance, GPS-based guidance, and terminal guidance using radar or infrared sensors. Among these, inertial guidance plays a foundational role because it doesn’t rely on external signals and works even in GPS-denied or jammed environments.

In an Inertial Navigation System (INS), MEMS work alongside accelerometers to estimate the missile’s attitude and position through continuously integrating motion data. Accurate angular rate measurements allow the control system to stabilize the missile, maintain proper orientation, and execute precise maneuvers. Although MEMS generally have higher drift compared to larger, high-end gyros, advanced calibration, sensor fusion, and filtering techniques significantly improve their performance.

EMCORE quartz MEMS micromachined gyroscopes provide precision data feedback to roll controls, autopilot/flight controls, and seeker stabilization systems to complement the performance of rocket boosters aboard tactical missiles. These units offer superior gyro bias stability, low angle random walk, and excellent vibration performance in miniature designs. Leveraging industry-leading MEMS and FOG technology to provide previously unheard-of angle random walk values without loss of tactical grade levels across military environments, the SDI-500 Tactical MEMS IMU and TAC-450 FOG IMUs with internal solid-state gyroscopes and accelerometers deliver unprecedented accuracy. Each of these remarkable units are capable of system-level performance, including guidance and navigational systems and telemetry functions – making them ideally suited for integrators and OEMs to develop reliable, long-life missile systems. Each of our devices are packaged in a highly miniaturized, ultra-small footprint volumes.