FEASIBILITY STUDY OF NEW TECHNIQUES FOR CONTROL OF RE-ENTRY VEHICLES. VOL I. CALCULATION OF OPTIMAL TRAJECTORIES AND SYNTHESIS OF CONTROL FUNCTIONS

摘要

Optimization techniques are used to synthesize the control programs and compute the corresponding flight paths for controllable re-entry vehicles. Linear per¬turbation control about these reference trajectories is investigated.nA large portion of the theory of the calculus of variations is modified and ex¬tended to apply to this problem. Many details of computational techniques, necessary in the adaptation of the theory to large scale digital calcuation, are reported. The optimization method which evolves is a modification of a Newton-Raphson iteration, although gradient procedures are also studied.nThe criteria for re-entry trajectories are functionals of the motion related to the heating of the vehicle. It is found that these criteria are relatively insensi¬tive to the flight path, and this fact leads to computational problems which must be handled carefully. The paths and control authority are constrained by reasonable physical requirements.