No label defined (Q3976567)

For the problem of time-optimal control in dimension three a precise understanding of the structure of both extremal and optimal trajectories near a reference point \(p\) under codimension 0 conditions has emerged during the eighties. Extremal trajecories are concatenations of a bang arc, followed by a singular arc and then by another bang arc or they are bang-bang trajectories with at most two switchings. Whereas the trajectories which have a singular arc are optimal in a neighborhood of \(p\), this is not the case for all bang-bang trajectories with two switchings. These trajectories are strong relative minima in the sense of calculus of variations up to the third junction, but optimality in a neighborhood of \(p\) ceases already at the cut-locus. This phenomenon is of a global nature and cannot be detected by infinitesimal variational techniques, but it shows up in an explicit construction of the small-time reachable set. Variational techniques alone fail to reveal the correct structure of locally optimal trajectories. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0743.58008].