Stepwise Design Process of Guided Vehicles

A guided vehicle is mainly divided into four subsystems: the airframe, guidance and control, motor (or propulsion), and payload. Thus, it is a very rich field for the research and interplay of different disciplines with pertinent technologies. Consequently, the first problem facing the designers is to select the technology appropriate for a new vehicle development and for the creation of the conceptual design. In addition, they have to be absolutely sure that the systems they design and develop represent not only the maximum performance for the money invested but also that the type of performance obtained is really needed by the customer. One of the important systems is the guidance and control (the nerve center or backbone) of a vehicle where it is necessary to discuss different design and analysis aspects in addition to analyzing and defining the problems of design and their solutions to cope with different sources of uncertainty. The analysis of the guidance system should include the evaluation of the types of guidance errors and the mathematical methods or tools which exist to evaluate and minimize these errors. The control system synthesis and design should be accomplished using the up-to date techniques such as optimal/adaptive robust techniques in addition to techniques for predicting the system stability and proper system responses. Determination of the sources of errors and their propagation through the system are of fundamental importance in setting design specifications and achieving a well balanced design. Overall evaluation is to be conducted using numerous simulation techniques and test facilities to verify the design, predict performance, define zones of effectiveness, and analyze pre- and post-flight results. Due to the extremely high cost of developing and testing prototype concepts for each of the very large number of possible guidance and control concept combinations, the use of
simulation through mathematical techniques is absolute necessity. The results of simulation are then realized and evaluated against the performance requirements. Therefore, this paper is devoted to present the design process in a stepwise approach and to clarify the different disciplines that have to work together towards the production of a guided vehicle starting by the customer requirements and mission. In addition, it is complemented by a comprehensive study of a hypothetical guided vehicle covering both technical and managerial aspects especially those concerning the guidance and control problem. This work solidifies the interplay between different disciplines and will be beneficial for those working in the field especially young researchers and designers.