Related papers: Characterization of Singular Arcs in Spacecraft Tr…
We establish a Pontryagin maximum principle for discrete time optimal control problems under the following three types of constraints: a) constraints on the states pointwise in time, b) constraints on the control actions pointwise in time,…
In this paper, we consider minimal time problems governed by control-affine-systems in the plane, and we focus on the synthesis problem in presence of a singular locus that involves a saturation point for the singular control. After giving…
The investigation of optimal processes has a long history in the field of thermodynamics. It is well known that finite-time processes that minimize dissipation often exhibit discontinuities. We use a combination of numerical and analytical…
This paper proposes a systematic method for generating practical and robust low-thrust spacecraft trajectories. One contribution is to consider the change in mass of the spacecraft at two levels: a) the propulsive acceleration and b) the…
In complex engineered systems, completing an objective is sometimes not enough. The system must be able to reach a set performance characteristic, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle flying from point A to point B, \textit{under 10 seconds}.…
A deep-space exploration mission with low-thrust propulsion to rendezvous with multiple asteroids is investigated. Indirect methods, based on the optimal control theory, are implemented to optimize the fuel consumption. The application of…
We investigate optimal control of dynamical systems which are affine, i.e., linear in control, but nonlinear in state. The control task is to enforce the system state to follow a prescribed desired trajectory as closely as possible, a task…
We study the tracking of a trajectory for a nonholonomic system by recasting the problem as a constrained optimal control problem. The cost function is chosen to minimize the error in positions and velocities between the trajectory of a…
We study Mean Field stochastic control problems where the cost function and the state dynamics depend upon the joint distribution of the controlled state and the control process. We prove suitable versions of the Pontryagin stochastic…
We propose an optimal control method for simultaneous slewing and vibration control of flexible spacecraft. Considering dynamics on different time scales, the optimal control problem is discretized on micro and macro time grids using a…
This paper presents an optimal control problem to analyze the efficacy of counter-terrorism tactics. We present an algorithm that efficiently combines the Minimum Principle of Pontryagin, the shooting method and the cyclic descent of…
Motivated by the control of invasive biological populations, we consider a class of optimization problems for moving sets $t\mapsto \Omega(t)\subset\mathbb{R}^2$. Given an initial set $\Omega_0$, the goal is to minimize the area of the…
The problem of finding the optimal thrust profile of a launcher upper stage is analyzed. The engine is assumed to be continuously thrusting, following either a linear or a bilevel parametric profile, until reaching the targeted coplanar…
Motivated by the applications, a class of optimal control problems is investigated, where the goal is to influence the behavior of a given population through another controlled one interacting with the first. Diffusive terms accounting for…
Given a sequential learning algorithm and a target model, sequential machine teaching aims to find the shortest training sequence to drive the learning algorithm to the target model. We present the first principled way to find such shortest…
Reliable controllers with high flexibility and performance are necessary for the control of intricate, advanced, and expensive systems such as aircraft, marine vessels, automotive vehicles, and satellites. Meanwhile, control allocation has…
This paper is the second part of our series of work to establish pointwise second-order necessary conditions for stochastic optimal controls. In this part, we consider the general cases, i.e., the control region is allowed to be nonconvex,…
The key element of the approach to the theory of necessary conditions in optimal control discussed in the paper is reduction of the original constrained problem to unconstrained minimization with subsequent application of a suitable…
In this paper, we prove a Pontryagin Maximum Principle for constrained optimal control problems in the Wasserstein space of probability measures. The dynamics, is described by a transport equation with non-local velocities and is subject to…
Spacecraft relative motion planning is concerned with the design and execution of maneuvers relative to a nominal target. These types of maneuvers are frequently utilized in missions such as rendezvous and docking, satellite inspection and…