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In this work, the concept of a multipurpose mission that can explore both the Moon and Mars with a single launch is proposed, and potential launch opportunities are analyzed to establish an early-phase trajectory concept. The proposed mission applies the concept of a piggyback ride to a small-sized lunar probe, i.e., the daughtership, of the main Mars orbiter, i.e., the mothership. For the trajectory design, the Earth-Moon-Mars gravity assist (EMMGA) trajectory is adopted for the mothership to reach Mars, and the daughtership is assumed to be released from the mothership during lunar flyby. To investigate the early-phase feasibility of the proposed mission, the launch windows have been analyzed and the associated delta-Vs have been directly compared with the solutions obtained for typical Earth-Mars direct (EMD) transfer options. The identified launch windows (in the years 2031 and 2045) could be the strongest candidates for the proposed conceptual mission. Under the current assumptions, up to approximately 15% (in 2031) and 9% (in 2045), more dry mass is expected to be delivered to Mars by appropriately selecting one of the currently available launch vehicles, regardless of whether the EMMGA transfer option is used. For missions around the Moon using a SmallSat in 2031, the feasibility of a lunar orbiter case and an impactor case is briefly analyzed based on the delta-Vs required to divert the SmallSat from the mothership. Although the current work is performed under numerous assumptions for a simplified problem, the narrowed candidate launch window from the current work represents a good starting point for more detailed trajectory design optimization and analysis to realize the proposed conceptual mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a ground terminal (GT) to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wireless communication system where data from GTs are collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle. We propose to use the ground terminal-UAV (G-U) region for the energy consumption model. In particular, to fulfill the data collection task with a minimum energy both of the GTs and UAV, an algorithm that combines optimal trajectory design and resource allocation scheme is proposed which is supposed to solve the optimization problem approximately. We initialize the UAV's trajectory firstly. Then, the optimal UAV trajectory and GT's resource allocation are obtained by using the successive convex optimization and Lagrange duality. Moreover, we come up with an efficient algorithm aimed to find an approximate solution by jointly optimizing trajectory and resource allocation. Numerical results show that the proposed solution is efficient. Compared with the benchmark scheme which did not adopt optimizing trajectory, the solution we propose engenders significant performance in energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minimum time interception problem with a tangent impulse whose direction is the same as the satellite's velocity direction is studied based on the relative motion equations of elliptical orbits by the combination of analytical, numerical, and optimization methods. Firstly, the feasible domain of the true anomaly of the target under the fixed impulse point is given, and the interception solution is transformed into a univariate function only with respect to the target true anomaly by using the relative motion equation. On the basis of the above, the numerical solution of the function is obtained by the combination of incremental search and the false position method. Secondly, considering the initial drift when the impulse point is freely selected, the genetic algorithm-sequential quadratic programming (GA-SQP) combination optimization method is used to obtain the minimum time interception solution under the tangent impulse in a target motion cycle. Thirdly, under the high-precision orbit prediction (HPOP) model, the Nelder-Mead simplex method is used to optimize the impulse velocity and transfer time to obtain the accurate interception solution. Lastly, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable stiffness actuator is a new actuation of robot which is inspired by motor control of human arm. And it is promising way to exploit the human-like performance and human-like motion. However, due to the mechanical complexity and redundancy of the actuators, it is not trivial to control the variable stiffness actuated robot to perform a human-like motion. In this paper, the weight lifting problem with variable stiffness actuated robot is studied. Then, the original problem is formulated as a constrained optimal control problem and transformed as a general nonlinear programming problem with Gauss pseudospectral method. Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with the iLQR approach. Furthermore, the simulations results are presented to show the influence of stiffness variation of variable stiffness actuators on the weight lifting problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evasion maneuver problem of hypersonic vehicles differs from those of ballistic missiles and other traditional weapons, showing distinctive properties including expansive maneuver range and weak maneuverability. How to avoid the disadvantage of low available overload and ensure follow-up tasks are the main concerns of the hypersonic penetration. This paper presents a penetration trajectory optimization algorithm for an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle, where the prerequisite penetration condition is analyzed and control costs are chosen as an objective function to minimize the fuel consumption and maneuver range. This paper focuses on how to formulate the complex, highly constrained nonconvex penetration problem to be a sequence of easily solved second-order cone programming through a combination of successive linearization and relaxation techniques. Innovation lies in the raising of the penetration angle and the relaxation technique of nonlinear and nonconvex elements. Various numerical simulations are conducted to verify the validity of penetration condition and to demonstrate that the proposed method is effective and has a good computational performance irrespective of initial guesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel sequential convex (SCvx) optimization scheme via the Chebyshev pseudospectral method is proposed for efficiently solving the hypersonic reentry trajectory optimization problem which is highly constrained by heat flux, dynamic pressure, normal load, and multiple no-fly zones. The Chebyshev-Gauss Legend (CGL) node points are used to transcribe the original dynamic constraint into algebraic equality constraint; therefore, a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem is concave and time-consuming to be solved. The iterative linearization and convexification techniques are proposed to convert the concave constraints into convex constraints; therefore, a sequential convex programming problem can be efficiently solved by convex algorithms. Numerical results and a comparison study reveal that the proposed method is efficient and effective to solve the problem of reentry trajectory optimization with multiple constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar sails have many advantages over traditional chemical propulsion spacecraft, such as needlessness of fuel, high payload ratio, long service life, and great application potential in deep space exploration, interstellar voyage, and other aerospace application fields. However, the period of solar sail transfer from the initial orbit to the desired orbit is relatively long. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the transfer trajectory of solar sail according to specific tasks. The hp-adaptive pseudospectral method combines the global pseudospectral method with the finite element method, which adopts double layer optimization strategy to solve the optimal control problem and has higher computational efficiency and accuracy than the traditional global pseudospectral method. In this paper, the pressure of solar light acting on the solar sail is analyzed, and the kinematic equation of the solar sail is established in polar coordinate system first; then the basic principle of the hp-adaptive pseudospectral method is introduced, and the steps of solving the transfer trajectory optimization problem by hp-adaptive pseudospectral method are proposed; finally, the trajectory optimization of the solar sail from Earth orbit to Sun-centered Mars orbit is simulated as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of hp-adaptive pseudospectral method in the orbit transfer optimization problem of solar sail. The simulation results show that the adopted method is not sensitive to the initial values and has more reasonable distribution and less computational cost than the Gauss pseudospectral method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the problem of robust finite-time H∞ control with transients for ocean surface vessels equipped with dynamic positioning (DP) system in presence of input delay. The main objective of this work is to design a finite-time H∞ state feedback controller, which ensures that all states of ship do not exceed a given threshold over a fixed time interval, with better robustness and transient performance subject to time-varying disturbance. Based on a novel augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii-like function (LKLF) with triple integral terms and a method combining the Wirtinger inequality and reciprocally convex approach, a less conservative result is derived. In particular, an H∞ performance index with nonzero initial condition is introduced to attenuate the overconservatism caused by the assumption of zero initial condition and enhance the transient performance of ship subject to external disturbance. More precisely, the controller gain matrix for the DP system can be achieved by solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be easily facilitated by using some standard numerical packages. Finally, a numerical simulation for a ship is proposed to verify the effectiveness and less conservatism of the controller we designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of optimal reentry trajectory for a hypersonic vehicle (HV) satisfying both boundary conditions and path constraints is a challenging task. As a relatively new swarm intelligent algorithm, an adaptive fireworks algorithm (AFWA) has exhibited promising performance on some optimization problems. However, with respect to the optimal reentry trajectory generation under constraints, the AFWA may fall into local optimum, since the individuals including fireworks and sparks are not well informed by the whole swarm. In this paper, we propose an improved AFWA to generate the optimal reentry trajectory under constraints. First, via the Chebyshev polynomial interpolation, the trajectory optimization problem with infinite dimensions is transformed to a nonlinear programming problem (NLP) with finite dimension, and the scope of angle of attack (AOA) is obtained by path constraints to reduce the difficulty of the optimization. To solve the problem, an improved AFWA with a new mutation strategy is developed, where the fireworks can learn from more individuals by the new mutation operator. This strategy significantly enhances the interactions between the fireworks and sparks and thus increases the diversity of population and improves the global search capability. Besides, a constraint-handling technique based on an adaptive penalty function and distance measure is developed to deal with multiple constraints. The numerical simulations of two reentry scenarios for HV demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed improved AFWA optimization method, when compared with other optimization methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless communications with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a promising technology offering potential high mobility and low cost. This paper studies a UAV-enabled communication system, in which a fixed-wing UAV is deployed to collect information from a group of distributed ground terminals (GTs). Considering the requirements for quality of service (QoS) (i.e., the throughput of each GT is above a given threshold) and GT scheduling, we maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of the UAV in bits/Joule by optimizing the UAV's flight trajectory. In this paper, a mixed integer nonconvex optimization problem is formulated. As that is difficult to solve, we divide the formulated problem into two subproblems and apply standard linear programming (LP) and successive convex optimization techniques. We further propose an efficient iterative algorithm that jointly optimizes GT scheduling and the UAV's trajectory. Moreover, we set two special cases as benchmarks to measure the performance of the proposed design. The numerical results show that our proposed design achieves much better performance than the other two benchmark designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By taking account of double-wishbone independent suspension with two unequal-length arms, the coordinate values of articulated geometry are based on structural limitations and constraint equations of alignment parameters. The sensitivities of front wheel alignment parameters are analyzed using the space analytic geometry method with insight module in ADAMS® software. The multiobjective optimization functions are designed to calculate the coordinate values of hardpoints with front suspension since the effect of time delay due to wheelbase can be easily obtained by vehicle speed. The K&C characteristics have been investigated using GA solutions in the simulation environment. The camber angle decreases from 1.152° to 1.05° and toe-in angle reduces from 1.036° to 0.944°. The simulation results demonstrate that the suggested optimization method is able to satisfy the suspension motion to enhance ride comfort. Experimental results, obtained by K&C test bench, also indicate that the optimized suspension can track the desired trajectory while keeping the vehicle performance in various road conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reentry trajectory optimization has been researched as a popular topic because of its wide applications in both military and civilian use. It is a challenging problem owing to its strong nonlinearity in motion equations and constraints. Besides, it is a high-dimensional optimization problem. In this paper, an improved chicken swarm optimization (ICSO) method is proposed considering that the chicken swarm optimization (CSO) method is easy to fall into local optimum when solving high-dimensional optimization problem. Firstly, the model used in this study is described, including its characteristic, the nonlinear constraints, and cost function. Then, by introducing the crossover operator, the principles and the advantages of the ICSO algorithm are explained. Finally, the ICSO method solving the reentry trajectory optimization problem is proposed. The control variables are discretized at a set of Chebyshev collocation points, and the angle of attack is set to fit with the flight velocity to make the optimization efficient. Based on those operations, the process of ICSO method is depicted. Experiments are conducted using five algorithms under different indexes, and the superiority of the proposed ICSO algorithm is demonstrated. Another group of experiments are carried out to investigate the influence of hen percentage on the algorithm’s performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiobjective trajectory optimization and adaptive backstepping control method based on recursive fuzzy wavelet neural network (RFWNN) are proposed to solve the problem of dynamic modeling uncertainties and strong external disturbance of the rubber unstacking robot during recycling process. First, according to the rubber viscoelastic properties, the Hunt-Crossley nonlinear model is used to construct the robot dynamics model. Then, combined with the dynamic model and the recycling process characteristics, the multiobjective trajectory optimization of the rubber unstacking robot is carried out for the operational efficiency, the running trajectory smoothness, and the energy consumption. Based on the trajectory optimization results, the adaptive backstepping control method based on RFWNN is adopted. The RFWNN method is applied in the main controller to cope with time-varying uncertainties of the robot dynamic system. Simultaneously, an adaptive robust control law is developed to eliminate inevitable approximation errors and unknown disturbances and relax the requirement for prior knowledge of the controlled system. Finally, the validity of the proposed control strategy is verified by experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the optimization accuracy and convergence rate for trajectory optimization of the air-to-air missile, a multi-interval mesh refinement Radau pseudospectral method was introduced. This method made the mesh endpoints converge to the practical nonsmooth points and decreased the overall collocation points to improve convergence rate and computational efficiency. The trajectory was divided into four phases according to the working time of engine and handover of midcourse and terminal guidance, and then the optimization model was built. The multi-interval mesh refinement Radau pseudospectral method with different collocation points in each mesh interval was used to solve the trajectory optimization model. Moreover, this method was compared with traditional h method. Simulation results show that this method can decrease the dimensionality of nonlinear programming (NLP) problem and therefore improve the efficiency of pseudospectral methods for solving trajectory optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid spreading of positioning devices leads to the generation of massive spatiotemporal trajectories data. In some scenarios, spatiotemporal data are received in stream manner. Clustering of stream data is beneficial for different applications such as traffic management and weather forecasting. In this article, an algorithm for Continuous Clustering of Trajectory Stream Data Based on Micro Cluster Life is proposed. The algorithm consists of two phases. There is the online phase where temporal micro clusters are used to store summarized spatiotemporal information for each group of similar segments. The clustering task in online phase is based on temporal micro cluster lifetime instead of time window technique which divides stream data into time bins and clusters each bin separately. For offline phase, a density based clustering approach is used to generate macro clusters depending on temporal micro clusters. The evaluation of the proposed algorithm on real data sets shows the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and proved it is efficient alternative to time window technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predicted impact point (PIP) of hypersonic interception changes continually; therefore the midcourse guidance law must have the ability of online trajectory optimization. In this paper, an online trajectory generation algorithm is designed based on neighboring optimal control (NOC) theory and improved indirect Radau pseudospectral method (IRPM). A trajectory optimization model is designed according to the features of operations in near space. Two-point boundary value problems (TPBVPs) are obtained based on NOC theory. The second-order linear form of transversality conditions is deduced backward to express the modifications of terminal states, costates, and flight time in terms of current state errors and terminal constraints modifications. By treating the current states and the optimal costates modifications as initial constraints and perturbations, the feedback control variables are obtained based on improved IRPM and nominal trajectory information. The simulation results show that when the changes of terminal constraints are not relatively large, this method can generate a modified trajectory effectively with high precision of terminal modifications. The design concept can provide a reference for the design of the online trajectory generation system of hypersonic vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive mesh iteration method based on Hermite-Pseudospectral is described for trajectory optimization. The method uses the Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points as interpolation points; then the state equations are approximated by Hermite interpolating polynomials. The method allows for changes in both number of mesh points and the number of mesh intervals and produces significantly smaller mesh sizes with a higher accuracy tolerance solution. The derived relative error estimate is then used to trade the number of mesh points with the number of mesh intervals. The adaptive mesh iteration method is applied successfully to the examples of trajectory optimization of Maneuverable Reentry Research Vehicle, and the simulation experiment results show that the adaptive mesh iteration method has many advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of minimum time-jerk trajectory planning for a robot is discussed in this paper. The optimal objective function is composed of two segments along the trajectory, which are the proportional to the total execution time and the proportional to the integral of the squared jerk (which denotes the derivative of the acceleration). The augmented Lagrange constrained particle swarm optimization (ALCPSO) algorithm, which combines the constrained particle swarm optimization (CPSO) with the augmented Lagrange multiplier (ALM) method, is proposed to optimize the objective function. In this algorithm, falling into a local best value can be avoided because a new particle swarm is generated per initial procedure, and the best value gained from the former generation is saved and delivered to the next generation during the iterative search procedure to enable the best value to be found more easily and more quickly. Finally, the proposed algorithm is tested on a planar 3-degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot; the simulation results show that the algorithm is effective, offering a solution to the time-jerk optimal trajectory planning problem of a robot under nonlinear constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the advances in computer control technology keep emerging, robotic hydraulic excavator becomes imperative. It can improve excavation accuracy and greatly reduce the operator’s labor intensity. The 12-ton backhoe bucket excavator has been utilized in this research work where this type of excavator is commonly used in engineering work. The kinematics model of operation device (boom, arm, bucket, and swing) in excavator is established in both Denavit-Hartenberg coordinates for easy programming and geometric space for avoiding blind spot. The control approach is based on trajectory tracing method with displacements and velocities feedbacks. The trajectory planning and autodig program is written by Visual C++. By setting the bucket teeth’s trajectory, the program can automatically plan the velocity and acceleration of each hydraulic cylinder and motor. The results are displayed through a 3D entity simulation environment which can present real-time movements of excavator kinematics. Object-Oriented Graphics Rendering Engine and skeletal animation are used to give accurate parametric control and feedback. The simulation result shows that a stable linear autodig can be achieved. The errors between trajectory planning command and simulation model are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shape-based method can provide suitable initial guesses for trajectory optimization, which are useful for quickly converging a more accurate trajectory. Combined with the optimal control theory, an optimized shape-based method using the finite Fourier series is proposed in this paper. Taking the flight time-fixed case and the time-free case into account, respectively, the optimized shape-based method, which considers the first-order optimal necessary conditions, can guarantee that not only an orbit designed during the preliminary phase is optimal, but also the thrust direction is not constrained to be tangential. Besides, the traditional shape-based method using the finite Fourier series, in which the thrust direction is constrained to be tangential, is developed for the time-free case in this paper. The Earth-Mars case and the LEO-GEO case are used to verify the optimized shape-based method’s feasibility for time-fixed and time-free continuous low-thrust trajectory design between circular coplanar orbits, respectively. The optimized shaped-based method can design a lower cost trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid trajectory optimization method consisting of Gauss pseudospectral method (GPM) and natural computation algorithm has been developed and utilized to solve multiphase return trajectory optimization problem, where a phase is defined as a subinterval in which the right-hand side of the differential equation is continuous. GPM converts the optimal control problem to a nonlinear programming problem (NLP), which helps to improve calculation accuracy and speed of natural computation algorithm. Through numerical simulations, it is found that the multiphase optimal control problem could be solved perfectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steady glide trajectory optimization for high lift-to-drag ratio reentry vehicle is a challenge because of weakly damped trajectory oscillation. This paper aims at providing a steady glide trajectory using numerical optimal method. A new steady glide dynamic modeling is formulated via extending a trajectory-oscillation suppressing scheme into the three-dimensional reentry dynamics with a spherical and rotating Earth. This scheme comprehensively considers all factors acting on the flight path angle and suppresses the trajectory oscillation by regulating the vertical acceleration in negative feedback form and keeping the lateral acceleration invariant. Then, a study on steady glide trajectory optimization is carried out based on this modeling and pseudospectral method. Two examples with and without bank reversal are taken to evaluate the performance and applicability of the new method. A comparison with the traditional method is also provided to demonstrate its superior performance. Finally, the feasibility of the pseudospectral solution is verified by comparing the optimal trajectory with integral trajectory. The results show that this method not only is capable of addressing the case which the traditional method cannot solve but also significantly improves the computational efficiency. More importantly, it provides more stable and safe optimal steady glide trajectory with high precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve the multiobjective optimization problem on hypersonic glider vehicle trajectory design subjected to complex constraints, this paper proposes a multiobjective trajectory optimization method that combines the boundary intersection method and pseudospectral method. The multiobjective trajectory optimization problem (MTOP) is established based on the analysis of the feature of hypersonic glider vehicle trajectory. The MTOP is translated into a set of general optimization subproblems by using the boundary intersection method and pseudospectral method. The subproblems are solved by nonlinear programming algorithm. In this method, the solution that has been solved is employed as the initial guess for the next subproblem so that the time consumption of the entire multiobjective trajectory optimization problem shortens. The maximal range and minimal peak heat problem is solved by the proposed method. The numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method can obtain the Pareto front of the optimal trajectory, which can provide the reference for the trajectory design of hypersonic glider vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gauss pseudospectral method is proposed in this study to solve the optimal trajectory-planning problem for satellite rapid large-angle maneuvers. In order to meet the requirement of rapid maneuver capability of agile small satellites, Single Gimbal Control Moment Gyros (SGCMGs) are adopted as the actuators for the attitude control systems (ACS). Because the singularity problem always exists for SGCMGs during the large-angle maneuvering of the satellites, a trajectory optimization method for the gimbal rates is developed based on the Gauss pseudospectral method. This method satisfies the control requirement of satellite rapid maneuvers and evades the singularity problem of SGCMGs. The method treats the large-angle maneuver problem as an optimization problem, which meets the boundary condition and a series of the physical constraints including the gimbal angle constraint, the gimbal rates constraint, the singularity index constraint, and some other performance criteria. This optimization problem is discretized as a nonlinear programming problem by the Gauss pseudospectral method. The optimal nonsingularity gimbal angle trajectory is obtained by the sequence of quadratic programming (SQP). This approach avoids the difficulties in solving the boundary value problem. The simulations reveal that the Gauss pseudospectral method effectively plans an optimal trajectory and satisfies all the constraints within a short time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes a trajectory planning method based on execution time, acceleration, and jerk to ensure that a glass-handing robot runs smoothly at execution time. The minimised objective function consists of the weighted sum of the square of the integral of the execution time, the integral of the acceleration, and the integral of the jerk, all of which are obtained through the weighted coefficient method. A three-dimensional kinematics model of the glass-handing robot is then established and nonuniform fifth-order B-splines are used to interpolate its path points. The acceleration and jerk are expressed as functions of time through mathematical simulation. Simulation results show that the designed method for robot trajectory planning not only improves the working efficiency of the glass-handing robot but also ensures that it runs smoothly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guidance with traditional trajectory correction scheme usually starts from the trajectory apex time to reduce drag penalties early in flight; however, this method cannot get the max trajectory correction capability of canards according to our analysis. This paper presents an optimized trajectory correction scheme by taking different control phases of canards in ballistic ascending segment and ballistic descending segment. Simulation indicates that the optimized trajectory correction can improve the trajectory correction capability greatly. The result of an example trajectory and Monte Carlo simulations with the predictive guidance law and the trajectory tracking guidance law testifies the effectiveness of the optimized trajectory correction scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new coning motion control methodology, which takes into account the terminal speed constraint to design the velocity control system for a missile. By using a direct discretization method to transform the optimal control problem into a nonlinear dynamic programming problem, the optimal trajectory and velocity profile are obtained to satisfy the design index requirement. In order to perform the velocity control, a virtual moving target is proposed for the missile to chase along the optimized trajectory. Consequently, after building velocity control model, a velocity control law and control parameters of the coning motion are completed through the dynamic inversion theory. The simulation results suggest that the proposed control law has a good performance and could be applied to the guidance for the missile with terminal speed control constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lunar landing stage is usually divided into two parts: deorbit burn and powered descent phases. The optimal lunar landing problem is likely to be transformed to the trajectory design problem on the powered descent phase by using continuous thrusters. The optimal lunar landing trajectories in general have variety in shape, and the lunar lander frequently increases its altitude at the initial time to obtain enough time to reduce the horizontal velocity. Due to the increment in the altitude, the lunar lander requires more fuel for lunar landing missions. In this work, a hybrid engine for the lunar landing mission is introduced, and an optimal lunar landing strategy for the hybrid engine is suggested. For this approach, it is assumed that the lunar lander retrofired the impulsive thruster to reduce the horizontal velocity rapidly at the initiated time on the powered descent phase. Then, the lunar lander reduced the total velocity and altitude for the lunar landing by using the continuous thruster. In contradistinction to other formal optimal lunar landing problems, the initial horizontal velocity and mass are not fixed at the start time. The initial free optimal control theory is applied, and the optimal initial value and lunar landing trajectory are obtained by simulation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of H∞ control performance analysis of continuous-time systems with random abrupt changes is concerned in this paper. By employing an augmented multiple mode-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and using some integral inequalities, new sufficient conditions are obtained relating to finite-time bounded and an H∞ performance index. The finite-time H∞ control performance problem is solved and desired controller is given to ensure the system trajectory stays within a prescribed bound during a given time interval. At last, two numerical examples are provided to show that our results are less conservative than the existing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trajectory optimization problem subject to terminal impact time and angle specifications can be reformulated as a nonlinear programming problem using the Gauss pseudospectral method. The cost function of the trajectory optimization problem is modified to reduce the terminal control energy. A receding horizon optimization strategy is implemented to reject the errors caused by the motion of a surface target. Several simulations were performed to validate the proposed method via the C programming language. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and that the real-time requirement can be easily achieved if the C programming language is used to realize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on a navigation facility, relying on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, developed to generate highaccuracy attitude and trajectory measurements in postprocessing. Target performance is cm-level positioning with tenth of degree attitude accuracy. The facility is based on the concept of GPS-aided inertial navigation but comprises carrier-phase differential GPS (CDGPS) processing and attitude estimation based on multiantenna GPS configurations. Expected applications of the system include: (a) performance assessment of integrated navigation systems, developed for general aviation aircraft and medium size unmanned aircraft systems (UAS); (b) generation of referencemeasurements to evaluate the flight performance of airborne sensors (e.g., radar or laser); and (c) generation of reference trajectory and attitude for improving imaging quality of airborne remote sensing data. The paper describes systemarchitecture, selected algorithms for data processing and integration, and theoretical performance evaluation. Experimental results are also presented confirming the effectiveness of the implemented approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the trajectory planning problem for planar underactuated robotmanipulators with two revolute joints in the absence of gravity. This problem is studied as an optimal control problem in which, given the dynamic model of a planar horizontal robot manipulator with two revolute joints one of which is not actuated, the initial state, and some specifications about the final state of the system, we find the available control input and the resulting trajectory that minimize the energy consumption during the motion. Our method consists in a numerical resolution of a reformulation of the optimal control problem as an unconstrained calculus of variations problem in which the dynamic equations of the mechanical system are regarded as constraints and treated using special derivative multipliers. We solve the resulting calculus of variations problem using a numerical approach based on the Euler-Lagrange necessary condition in integral form in which time is discretized and admissible variations for each variable are approximated using a linear combination of piecewise continuous basis functions of time. The use of the Euler-Lagrange necessary condition in integral formavoids the need for numerical corner conditions and the necessity of patching together solutions between corners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]