Premium
Minimum‐time turn trajectories to fly‐to points
Author(s) -
Clements John C.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
optimal control applications and methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.458
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-1514
pISSN - 0143-2087
DOI - 10.1002/oca.4660110104
Subject(s) - trajectory , radius , turn (biochemistry) , point (geometry) , altitude (triangle) , turning radius , control theory (sociology) , constant (computer programming) , mathematics , wind speed , computer science , optimal control , control (management) , geometry , mathematical optimization , aerospace engineering , physics , meteorology , engineering , computer security , nuclear magnetic resonance , astronomy , artificial intelligence , programming language
The existence of a (global) optimal control u * is established which ensures the execution of a constant‐altitude, minimum‐time flight trajectory to a specified fly‐to point, given the aircraft maximum performance turn radius and the wind speed W and direction tH w . Fast, accurate numerical procedures based on elementary geometry and the solution of a fixed‐point equation are derived for the calculation of u * and the associated optimal trajectory ( x *, y *). An example is given and the application of these results to the real‐time solution of the case where the aircraft roll rate is also incorporated into the flight dynamics is discussed.