Guidability

Guidability is the degree to which a system can be directed to follow a desired trajectory or achieve a target state in response to external guidance signals or control inputs. It is a property of the system, its actuators, sensors, and the control architecture, and it encompasses how predictable and efficient the response is to commanded guidance. In engineering, guidability is contrasted with autonomy or uncontrollability; highly guidable systems accept and execute guidance with minimal intervention, while poorly guidable systems exhibit large deviations or oscillations.

Key factors include the availability of actuators capable of effecting changes, sensing accuracy, feedback mechanisms, communication latency, and the design of guidance laws or controllers. Nonlinear dynamics, uncertainty, and delays reduce guidability. Metrics include responsiveness, convergence time, tracking error, and energy efficiency. In practice, guidability is assessed through modeling, simulation, and experimental trials.

Applications span autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, ships and missiles with navigation guidance, and robotics such as industrial arms, mobile robots, and automated guided vehicles. It also appears in surgical robotics, spacecraft attitude and orbit control, and process control in manufacturing. In design, improving guidability may involve adding redundant sensors, improving estimation, implementing robust or adaptive controllers, and ensuring fault tolerance.

Limitations and considerations include that high guidability often requires precise actuation and accurate models, which may be costly or risk-prone; there are safety and regulatory constraints on guidance systems; in uncertain environments, there is a trade-off between guidance precision and robustness. The concept is used across engineering disciplines to analyze how effectively a system can be steered toward objectives.