Time-axis decomposition of large-scale optimal control problems

Continuous-time optimal control problems can rarely be solved directly but have to be approximated with discrete analogues. Shorter time steps lead to more accurate approximations, but result in formulations that are often too big for computer memory. This paper presents a technique for decomposing the problem along the time axis and iterating toward a solution in a leader-follower framework.In the model, the leader controls a set of coordination parameters, which he passes to the followers, who then solve their individual subproblems. State and sensitivity information is returned to the leader, who attempts to minimize an unconstrained problem in the coordination space. Parameters are updated and the process continues until improvement ceases. Two advantages of this technique are that feasible solutions to the original problem are available at each iteration and that the optimal coordination parameters obtained provide some measure of feedback control. Computational results are presented for a comprehensive set of test problems.This work was supported by a grant from the Advanced Research Program of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.