Solution of Fixed Final State Optimal Control Problems via Simple Cell Mapping

A strategy is proposed to solve the fixed final state optimalcontrol problem using the simple cell mapping method. A non-uniform timestep simple cell mapping is developed to create a general database fromwhich solutions of various optimal control problems can be obtained. Atwo-stage backward search algorithm is proposed to eliminate degeneratedpaths often associated with the simple cell mapping. The proposed methodcan accurately delineate the switching curves and eliminate false limitcycles in the solution. The method is applied to two optimal controlproblems with bang-bang control. The well-known minimum time controlproblem of moving a point mass from any initial condition to the originof the phase plane is studied first. This example has exact solutionsavailable which provide a yardstick to examine the accuracy of themethod. The cell size dependence of the solution accuracy is studiednumerically. The second example is a variable stiffness feedback controlproblem with tuning range saturation. The strategy proposed is able toprovide the switching curves in the phase plane. This result has notbeen obtained before.