Simultaneous maneuver and vibration suppression of flexible spacecraft

A method is described for the simultaneous large-angle maneuver and vibration suppression of flexible spacecraft. The control action is carried out in two independent systems, one system performing the maneuvers and the other system controlling the elastic motion. The vibration is suppressed using a natural control. It is shown that control of the elastic motion does not distort the maneuver because the spacecraft linear and angular momenta are conserved regardless of spacecraft modeling errors. Thus, the maneuver can be designed and performed independently of the elastic motion control.     

Three-Dimensional Maneuvering and Control of Flexible Robots

This paper develops a general approach to the three-dimensional maneuver and vibration control of a robot in the form of a chain of flexible links. The equations for the rigid-body maneuvering motions are derived by means of Lagrange equations in terms of quasi-coordinates and the equations for the elastic deformations by means of ordinary Lagrange equations. The equations of motion are derived for the full system simultaneously, using recursive equations to relate the motions of a given link to the motions of the preceding links in the chain. The maneuver is carried out by means of joint torques and the vibration is suppressed by means of point actuators dispersed throughout the links. The controls are designed by the Liapunov direct method. A numerical example demonstrates the theoretical developments.     

Optimal Starting Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver, Part 1: Optimal Control Approach

We consider the three-dimensional rendezvous between two spacecraft: a target spacecraft on a circular orbit around the Earth and a chaser spacecraft initially on some elliptical orbit yet to be determined. The chaser spacecraft has variable mass, limited thrust, and its trajectory is governed by three controls, one determining the thrust magnitude and two determining the thrust direction. We seek the time history of the controls in such a way that the propellant mass required to execute the rendezvous maneuver is minimized. Two cases are considered: (i) time-to-rendezvous free and (ii) time-to-rendezvous given, respectively equivalent to (i) free angular travel and (ii) fixed angular travel for the target spacecraft. The above problem has been studied by several authors under the assumption that the initial separation coordinates and the initial separation velocities are given, hence known initial conditions for the chaser spacecraft. In this paper, it is assumed that both the initial separation coordinates and initial separation velocities are free except for the requirement that the initial chaser-to-target distance is given so as to prevent the occurrence of trivial solutions. Analyses performed with the multiple-subarc sequential gradient-restoration algorithm for optimal control problems show that the fuel-optimal trajectory is zero-bang, namely it is characterized by two subarcs: a long coasting zero-thrust subarc followed by a short powered max-thrust braking subarc. While the thrust direction of the powered subarc is continuously variable for the optimal trajectory, its replacement with a constant (yet optimized) thrust direction produces a very efficient guidance trajectory: Indeed, for all values of the initial distance, the fuel required by the guidance trajectory is within less than one percent of the fuel required by the optimal trajectory. For the guidance trajectory, because of the replacement of the variable thrust direction of the powered subarc with a constant thrust direction, the optimal control problem degenerates into a mathematical programming problem with a relatively small number of degrees of freedom, more precisely: three for case (i) time-to-rendezvous free and two for case (ii) time-to-rendezvous given. In particular, we consider the rendezvous between the Space Shuttle (chaser) and the International Space Station (target). Once a given initial distance SS-to-ISS is preselected, the present work supplies not only the best initial conditions for the rendezvous trajectory, but simultaneously the corresponding final conditions for the ascent trajectory.     

Multicriterion structure/control design for optimal maneuverability and fault tolerance of flexible spacecraft

A multicriterion design problem for optimal maneuverability and fault tolerance of flexible spacecraft is considered. The maneuverability index reflects the time required to perform rest-to-rest attitude maneuvers for a given set of angles, with the postmaneuver spillover within a specified bound. The performance degradation is defined to reflect the maximum possible attitude error after maneuver due to the effect of faults. The fault-tolerant design is to minimize the worst performance degradation from all admissible faults by adjusting the design of the spacecraft. It is assumed that admissible faults can be specified by a vector of real parameters. The multicriterion design for optimal maneuverability and fault tolerance is shown to be well defined, leading to a minimax problem. Analysis for this nonsmooth problem leads to closed-form expressions of the generalized gradient of the performance degradation function with respect to the fault parameters and structural design variables. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the optimum are derived, and the closed-form expressions of the generalized gradients are applied for their interpretation. The bundle method is applicable to this minimax problem. Approximate methods which efficiently solve this minimax problem with relatively little computational difficulties are presented. Numerical examples suggest that it is possible to improve the fault tolerance substantially with relatively little loss in maneuverability.     

Comparison of two linearization methods for optimal attitude maneuver of a non-linear flexible spacecraft

^** Email: zhengjhluck{at}hotmail.com In this paper, we consider the optimal attitude maneuver designfor a non-linear flexible spacecraft with vibrating solar arrays.Two different linearization methods for the non-linear systemare compared in this study. One is the recursive approximatingsequence approach (RASA) to design a time-varying linear quadraticregulator (LQR) for the non-linear system and the other is todesign a LQR by linearizing the non-linear system at each locally‘frozen’ state in any sufficient small sphere alongthe trajectory. Numerical simulation shows that the later approachgives good design results quickly by scanning the time axisonly one time. The RASA method may scan the time axis severaltimes to get a good approach. Moreover, both linearization methodsgive satisfying control results in attitude maneuver and vibrationsuppression control for the non-linear flexible spacecraft.     

一阶多智能体系统的一致性分析

研究一阶连续多智能体系统的一致性问题,其中每个智能体只能在一系列离散时刻上获得其相对邻居的状态信息,并且每个智能体的保持器的周期和采样器的周期是不同的.通过分析多智能体系统的稳定性,获得了一致性成立的充要条件,该条件揭示了交流拓扑、控制器增益、采样器的周期和保持器的周期的关系.最后,提供一个仿真例子以说明理论结果的有效性.     

Maximum principle for the optimal control of a hyperbolic equation in one space dimension,part 1: Theory

A maximum principle is developed for a class of problems involving the optimal control of a damped-parameter system governed by a linear hyperbolic equation in one space dimension that is not necessarily separable. A convex index of performance is formulated, which consists of functionals of the state variable, its first- and second-order space derivatives, its first-order time derivative, and a penalty functional involving the open-loop control force. The solution of the optimal control problem is shown to be unique. The adjoint operator is determined, and a maximum principle relating the control function to the adjoint variable is stated. The proof of the maximum principle is given with the help of convexity arguments. The maximum principle can be used to compute the optimal control function and is particularly suitable for problems involving the active control of structural elements for vibration suppression.     

Abort landing in the presence of windshear as a minimax optimal control problem,part 1: Necessary conditions

The landing of a passenger aircraft in the presence of windshear is a threat to aviation safety. The present paper is concerned with the abort landing of an aircraft in such a serious situation. Mathematically, the flight maneuver can be described by a minimax optimal control problem. By transforming this minimax problem into an optimal control problem of standard form, a state constraint has to be taken into account which is of order three. Moreover, two additional constraints, a first-order state constraint and a control variable constraint, are imposed upon the model. Since the only control variable appears linearly, the Hamiltonian is not regular. Thus, well-known existence theorems about the occurrence of boundary arcs and boundary points cannot be applied. Numerically, this optimal control problem is solved by means of the multiple shooting method in connection with an appropriate homotopy strategy. The solution obtained here satisfies all the sharp necessary conditions including those depending on the sign of certain multipliers. The trajectory consists of bang-bang and singular subarcs, as well as boundary subarcs induced by the two state constraints. The occurrence of boundary arcs is known to be impossible for regular Hamiltonians and odd-ordered state constraints if the order exceeds two. Additionally, a boundary point also occurs where the third-order state constraint is active. Such a situation is known to be the only possibility for odd-ordered state constraints to be active if the order exceeds two and if the Hamiltonian is regular. Because of the complexity of the optimal control, this single problem combines many of the features that make this kind of optimal control problems extremely hard to solve. Moreover, the problem contains nonsmooth data arising from the approximations of the aerodynamic forces and the distribution of the wind velocity components. Therefore, the paper can serve as some sort of user's guide to solve inequality constrained real-life optimal control problems by multiple shooting.An extended abstract of this paper was presented at the 8th IFAC Workshop on Control Applications of Nonlinear Programming and Optimization, Paris, France, 1989 (see Ref. 1).This paper is dedicated to Professor Hans J. Stetter on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

航天器编队飞行多目标姿态快速跟踪鲁棒控制

研究了航天器编队飞行多目标姿态跟踪鲁棒控制问题．主航天器装有一个快速机动天线和一个星载相机．考虑相机对地面目标跟踪,同时考虑天线与从航天器通信的空间任务．通过引入角速度约束和姿态角约束,分别推导了相机和天线的参考姿态角、角速度和角加速度．提出期望逆系统的概念,将三维空间姿态跟踪问题转化为调节问题,简化了控制器的设计．考虑存在参数摄动和外部干扰力矩的情况,基于期望逆系统和滑模控制,设计了鲁棒姿态跟踪控制器,并利用Liapunov稳定性理论证明了控制系统的渐近稳定性．以两航天器编队飞行多目标跟踪为例进行数值仿真,结果表明所设计的控制器具有良好的鲁棒性和优越的跟踪性能．     

Resource limited event-triggered model predictive control for continuous-time nonlinear systems based on first-order hold

This paper investigates a resources-limited situation in the event-triggered model predictive control (ETMPC) for continuous-time nonlinear system with first-order hold fashion. In consideration of limited bandwidth in data transmission through wireless network under actual operation, our strategy divides the prediction horizon, and applies linear interpolation instead of zero-order hold fashion to obtain a better system performance, so that the reduction of resources and the optimization of strategy can be guaranteed. Furthermore, in actual industry processes, quadratic cost function cannot be implemented in all operations, then general cost function is adopted in this paper. Based on the first-order hold method and general cost function, the feasibility of the ETMPC algorithm and the stability of dynamical systems are analyzed. At last, a practical example is given to show the advantages of our method.     

具有确定运动姿势的柔性体的动力学分析研究

讨论了具有确定运动姿态的柔性多体系统的非线性动力学控制方程． 将飞行器在空间的运动看作是已知的,分析了飞行器上的挠性构件对飞行器运动和姿态的影响,利用假设模态,将挠性构件的变形,看作是空间直角坐标轴方向的线元振动所构成的,根据动力学中的Kane方法,建立了动力学方程,方程中包含表示弹性变形的结构刚度矩阵及表示变形体非线性变形几何刚度矩阵,方程推导从应力-应变关系入手,使用了有限元法．经简化,得到了带帆板结构的平面挠性体对飞行器运动影响的动力学方程,这种方程可通过计算机实现其数值解．     

Models in solar water heating—a critical comparison

A problem is discussed concerning the stochastic modelling of a system for collecting and storing solar energy. Three models are compared. These are: (i) a trivial, zero-order model; (ii) a linear (first-order) approximation to the system controls; and (iii) a full computer simulation. The Law of Diminishing Returns is demonstrated by this comparison, for although the computer simulation, involving great computational and programming effort is not matched by the linear models, considerable information is available, for little effort, from the linear approximation. Further it is shown that the use of this linear approximation can greatly assist a computer simulation since its use as a control variate can drastically reduce the variance.     

Optimal scanning control of flexible structures in two-dimensional space

A class of optimal control problems for hyperbolic systems in two-dimensional space is considered. An approach is proposed to damp the undesirable vibrations in the structures by pointwise moving force actuators extending over the spatial region occupied by the structure. A class of performance indices is introduced that includes functions of the state variable, its first and second-order space derivatives and first-order time derivative evaluated at a preassigned terminal time, and a suitable penalty term involving the control forces. A maximum principle is given for such general scanning control problem that facilitates the determination of the unique optimal control. A solution method is developed for the active vibration control of plates of general shape. The implementation of the method is presented and the effectiveness of a single moving force actuator is investigated and compared to a single fixed force actuator by a specific numerical example.     

Optimal Starting Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver,Part 2: Mathematical Programming Approach

In a companion paper (Part 1, J. Optim. Theory Appl. 137(3), [2008]), we determined the optimal starting conditions for the rendezvous maneuver using an optimal control approach. In this paper, we study the same problem with a mathematical programming approach. Specifically, we consider the relative motion between a target spacecraft in a circular orbit and a chaser spacecraft moving in its proximity as described by the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations. We consider the class of multiple-subarc trajectories characterized by constant thrust controls in each subarc. Under these conditions, the Clohessy-Wiltshire equations can be integrated in closed form and in turn this leads to optimization processes of the mathematical programming type. Within the above framework, we study the rendezvous problem under the assumption that the initial separation coordinates and initial separation velocities are free except for the requirement that the initial chaser-to-target distance is given. In particular, we consider the rendezvous between the Space Shuttle (chaser) and the International Space Station (target). Once a given initial distance SS-to-ISS is preselected, the present work supplies not only the best initial conditions for the rendezvous trajectory, but simultaneously the corresponding final conditions for the ascent trajectory.     

The problem of the time-optimal control of spacecraft reorientation

The use of Pontryagin's maximum principle to solve spacecraft motion control problems is demonstrated. The problem of the optimal control of the spatial reorientation of a spacecraft (as a rigid body) from an arbitrary initial angular position to an assigned final angular position in the minimum rotation time is investigated in detail. The case in which velocity parameters of the motion are constrained is considered. An analytical solution of the problem is obtained in closed form using the method of quaternions, and mathematical expressions for synthesizing the optimal control programme are given. The kinematic problem of spacecraft reorientation is solved completely. A design scheme for solving the maximum principle boundary-value problem for arbitrary turning conditions and inertial characteristics of the spacecraft is given. A solution of the problem of the optimal control of spatial reorientation for a dynamically symmetrical spacecraft is presented in analytical form (to expressions in elementary functions). The results of mathematical modelling of the motion of a spacecraft under optimal control, which confirm the practical feasibility of the control algorithm developed, are given. Estimates have shown that the turn time of modern spacecraft with a constrained magnitude of the angular momentum can be reduced by 15–25% compared with conventional reorientation methods. The greatest effect is achieved for turns through large angles (90° or more) when the final rotation vector is equidistant from the longitudinal axis and the transverse plane of the spacecraft.     

Nonlinear Programming Methods for Real-Time Control of an Industrial Robot

The optimal control of an industrial robot is considered as a parametricnonlinear control problem subject to control and state constraints. Based onrecent stability results for parametric control problems, a robust nonlinearprogramming method is proposed to compute the sensitivity of open-loopcontrol solutions. Real-time control approximations of the perturbedoptimal solutions are obtained by evaluating first-order Taylor expansionsof the optimal solutions with respect to the parameter. The proposednumerical methods are applied to the industrial robot Manutec r3. Thequality of the real-time approximations is illustrated for perturbations inthe transport load.     

Mathematical modeling and simulation of the earth's magnetic field: A comparative study of the models on the spacecraft attitude control application

In this paper, the Earth's magnetic field models which are widely used in spacecraft attitude control applications are modeled and extensively compared with a reference model. The reference model is obtained utilizing coefficients from the last generation of International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF-12). The validity of this model is verified with the World Magnetic Model (WMM) in terms of intensity and direction of the field. The reference model is then used to evaluate lower-order and approximating models while the influence of effective parameters such as expansion order of modeling, orbit height, inclination, latitude and longitude on accuracy of modeling is investigated. The simulation results for several scenarios are presented and discussed. The linear and nonlinear transformations of the models from orbital frame to spacecraft body frame are compared for a wide range of attitude angles in order to investigate the sensibility and validity of linear transformation. Simulation of a spacecraft attitude control maneuver is performed to demonstrate the importance of the accuracy of the magnetic field model which is implemented in the attitude control system. The results indicated a meaningful increase in control effort when a simplified model was used. This research was aimed to investigate the borders of different geomagnetic field models and transformations for spacecraft attitude control applications. The presented results may lead to a proper choice of the Earth's magnetic field model based on the space mission requirements.     

Optimal Harvesting in an Age-Structured Predator–Prey Model

We investigate optimal harvesting control in a predator–prey model in which the prey population is represented by a first-order partial differential equation with age-structure and the predator population is represented by an ordinary differential equation in time. The controls are the proportions of the populations to be harvested, and the objective functional represents the profit from harvesting. The existence and uniqueness of the optimal control pair are established.     

Numerical optimisation for induction heat treatment processes

This paper aims at introducing new approaches for designing and optimising induction heat treatment processes. Although the final objectives of induction heating processes may deal with some specific mechanical or metallurgical properties for manufactured parts, we shall primarily focus here on achieving an accurate control of temperature distribution and evolution in the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). This objective can be formalised as a classical optimisation problem: we seek to minimise a cost function which measures the difference between computed and goal temperatures – along with some constraints on process parameters. We deal here with both zero-order algorithms – using a method based on Efficient Global Optimization algorithm which is an optimisation procedure assisted by a meta model – as well as first-order algorithms. These algorithms have been coupled with 2-D and 3-D finite element models developed in our laboratory; this model is based on a coupling procedure between Maxwell equations and heat transfer models, and has been extended to mechanical and metallurgical computations.     

Variational Calculus and Approximate Solution of Optimal Control Problems

Variational calculus is a differential process whereby Taylor series expansions can be developed on a term-by-term basis. Therefore, it can be used to obtain the equations which must be solved for the various-order terms arising from the application of regular perturbation theory to problems involving a small parameter. Variational calculus is summarized and applied to the approximate analytical solution of the optimal control problem. First, the various-order equations are obtained directly for a particular problem. Then, assuming that the zeroth-order solution is almost good enough, the equations for the first-order correction are obtained for the general optimal control problem and applied to the particular problem. The first-order solution is the same as the neighboring extremal for the given value of the parameter.