Sharif Digital Repository

A novel trajectory design methodology is proposed in the current work to minimize the state uncertainty in the crucial mission of spacecraft rendezvous. The trajectory is shaped under constraints utilizing a multiple-impulse approach. State uncertainty is characterized in terms of covariance, and the impulse time as the only effective parameter in uncertainty propagation is selected to minimize the trace of the covariance matrix. Furthermore, the impulse location is also adopted as the other design parameter to satisfy various translational constraints of the space mission. Efficiency and viability of the proposed idea have been investigated through some scenarios that include constraints on... 

In this paper, a hierarchical method for trajectory design for cooperative combat missions (CCM) is presented. In a military environment, in addition to physical constraints (aircraft dynamics and mountains) there are threats made by Radars or Artillery. So an important constraint, "Avoid Threats", is added to physical constraints. Major steps in trajectory design are: "Target Assignment", "Path Planning", "Path Smoothing and Trajectory Design". The most important points and a brief algorithm for each step is presented in this paper. Finally the method is applied to special case and the results presented. ©2008 IEEE  

This paper investigates the problem of optimal transfer trajectory design towards the L2 centered Halo orbit of the Sun-Earth three body system, where the initial launch is to start from a low Earth parking orbit (LEO). The proposed optimal transfer trajectory consists of an active part with low-thrust propulsion and a passive coasting part with no thrust or fuel consumption. In this respect a pseudo-stable manifold (SM) is initially determined through backward time integration of the bicircular four body (BCFB) equations of motion, whose initial states are obtained via stable manifolds of the restricted three body problem (R3BP). The optimal transfer trajectories are extracted via a hybrid... 

It is well-known that helicopters descending fast may enter the so-called Vortex Ring State (VRS), a region in the velocity space where the blade's lift differs significantly from regular regions and high amplitude fluctuations are often present. These fluctuations may lead to instability and, therefore, this region is avoided, typically by increasing the horizontal speed. This paper researches this phenomenon in the context of small-scale quadcopters. The region corresponding to the VRS is identified by combining first-principles modeling and wind-tunnel experiments. Moreover, we propose that the so-called Windmill-Brake State (WBS) or autorotation region should also be avoided for...