Automatic Control of Aircraft and Missiles

by John H. Blakelock

This Second Edition continues the fine tradition of its predecessor by exploring the various automatic control systems in aircraft and on board missiles. Considerably expanded and updated, it now includes new or additional material on: the effectiveness of beta-beta feedback as a method of obtaining coordination during turns using the F-15 as the aircraft model; the root locus analysis of a generic acceleration autopilot used in many air-to-air and surface-to-air guided missiles; the guidance systems of the AIM-9L Sidewinder as well as bank-to-turn missiles; various types of guidance, including proportional navigation and line-of-sight and lead-angle command guidance; the coupling of the output of a director fire control system into the autopilot; the analysis of multivariable control systems; and methods for modeling the human pilot, plus the integration of the human pilot into an aircraft flight control system. Also features many new additions to the appendices.

672 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Joe Chai · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic that every aerospace GNC practitioner should own. I read this book a couple of years ago in the first few months of my PhD, and the derivation of the linearised flight dynamic equations has been invaluable to me. Small perturbation method is nothing fancy, of course, but applying it to the flight dynamics equations and seeing the transfer functions derived for SPO and Phugoid was enlightening. I was, for two semesters, a teaching assistant for a university Flight Mechanics course, and I based my simulation tutorial on this book.