Stochastic Multi-object Guidance Laws for Interception and Rendezvous Problems

This article considers the problem of guiding an unknown number of controllable interceptors to rendezvous with the same target at the same time. It is assumed that the all of the interceptors and the target are described by linear dynamics with Gaussian noise, though the theory presented does not preclude more general models. This article extends the work of Athans to consider a scenario, where the number of interceptors is unknown and time-varying. In particular, the focus is on the development of a stochastic multiobject guidance law for simulaneous rendezvous and interception. The article is presented as an homage to Athans’ original work which was published nearly 50 years ago.