Optimal control with aerospace applications (Q368783)

This textbook addresses applications of the calculus of variations to aerospace problems. It is assumed that the reader has only the usual undergraduate engineering knowledge. Chapter 1 is devoted to the parameter optimization problem. Constrained optimization is treated by using the Lagrange multipliers method. A two-impulse scheme to transfer a spacecraft from a lower circular orbit to a higher one is considered as an example, known as the Hohmann-Vetchinkin transfer. Chapter 2 contains a brief exposition of problems of Lagrange, Mayer, and Bolza in optimal control theory. The study of these problems is motivated by the optimal launch of a satellite. The Euler-Lagrange theorem and the Weierstrass necessary condition together with their applications in the calculus of variations are considered in Chapters 3, 4 and 5. Optimality conditions are presented in Chapter 6 as Pontryagin's minimum principle. The problem of the conjugate point is illustrated by examples of the shortest path on a sphere. Chapter 7 contains some examples of the aircraft performance optimization, including the maximization of the range of a rocket and the optimal launching of a satellite. The Weierstrass-Erdman corner conditions and bounded control problems are presented in Chapters 8 and 9, respectively. A survey of the general theory of optimal rocket trajectories is outlined in Chapter 10. This text should be useful to graduate students in aerospace engineering. The book is equipped with several Matlab codes in the appendices.