Sharif Digital Repository

The combination of pursuit and line of sight guidance laws, called PLOS, is used to steer an unmanned aerial vehicle along a desired path. In the previous studies, the parameters of this guidance law are tuned by trial and error and are constant, during the flight. In this research, it will be shown that the optimal value of these parameters depends on the initial conditions of the problem and the wind conditions. For this reason, a fuzzy system is proposed to generate the instantaneous optimal value of these parameters, in such a way that the flying vehicle converges to the desired path in less time and follows it more accurately, in the presence of wind. For this purpose, a cost function... 

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... 

time-optimal problem for redundantly actuated robots moving on a specified path is a challenging problem. Although the problem is well explored and there are proposed solutions based on phase plane analysis, there are still several unresolved issues regarding calculation of solution curves. In this paper, we explore the characteristics of the maximum velocity curve and propose an efficient algorithm to establish the solution curve. Then we propose a straightforward method to calculate the maximum or minimum possible acceleration on the path based on the pattern of saturated actuators, which substantially reduces the computational cost. Two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the... 

In this paper, the optimal performance of a planar humanlike musculoskeletal arm is investigated during reaching movements employing an optimal control policy. The initial and final states (position and velocity) are the only known data of the response trajectory. Two biomechanical objective functions are taken into account to be minimized as the central nervous system (CNS) strategy: (1) a quadratic function of muscle stresses (or forces), (2) total time of movement plus a quadratic function of muscle stresses. A two-degress of freedom (DOF) nonlinear musculoskeletal arm model (for planar movements) with six muscle actuators and four state variables is used in order to evaluate the proposed... 

In this paper, the problem of obtaining the optimal trajectory of a Dual-Arm Cam-Lock (DACL) robot is addressed. The DACL robot is a reconfigurable manipulator consisting of two cooperative arms, which may act separately. These may also be cam-locked in each other in some links and thus lose some degrees of freedom while gaining higher structural stiffness. This will also decrease their workspace volume. It is aimed to obtain the optimal configuration of the robot and the optimal joint trajectories to minimize the consumed energy for following a specific task space path. The Pontryagin's Minimum Principle is utilized with a shooting method to resolve kinematic redundancy. Numerical examples... 

This paper examines the problem of determining optimal sensors trajectories for localization of a moving radio source based on Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA) measurements in situations in which sensors are constrained both in their movements and regions of operation. By considering the movement of the source and constrained movement of the sensors, a constraint problem is formed which is solved to determine optimal trajectories of the sensors for source tracking. The validity of the proposed algorithm is assessed by two different simulation scenarios and the results verify its proper operation with estimation error decreasing in consecutive steps... 

A major issue required to enhance the autonomy level of unmanned vehicles is real-time motion planning. In this context, optimal trajectories need to be generated online considering the vehicle's dynamic potentials and constraints. However, autonomous air vehicles often need to plan and execute their missions with varying objectives that may even be dictated in flight. Therefore, the current study introduces and focuses on the new concept of variable-objective motion planning. In this regard, a new dynamic multi-objective heuristic optimization algorithm is developed for path and motion planning of autonomous air vehicles in presence of deterministic terrain obstacles as well as random... 

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... 

Aerial tail-sitters have drawn many attentions in recent years. The main challenge of employing these vehicles is to ensure safe and efficient takeoff and landing. The aim of the current study is to develop a gradient-base optimization algorithm for a jet aerial tail-sitter in order to obtain minimum time trajectories in transition flight phases. The vehicle is supposed to utilize thrust vectoring system instead of conventional control surfaces that will pose minimal drawbacks in terms of low speed efficiency and complexity. The time-optimal trajectories are computed using the nonlinear dynamic equations of motion of the vehicle in order to make sure that the vehicle can follow the optimum... 

This paper deals with control of the brachiation robot. The brachiation is a type of mobile robot that moves from branch to branch like a long-armed ape. Here, as a new innovation, Pontryagin's minimum principle is used to obtain the optimal trajectories for two different problems. The first problem is "Brachiation between fixed branches with different distance and height" and the second is "Brachiating and catching the moving target branch". Theoretical results show that the control effort in the proposed method is reduced by 25% in comparison with the "Target Dynamics" method which was proposed in prior articles for this robot. The obtained optimal trajectory also minimizes the brachiation... 

Microburst wind shear is a potential hazard for aviation safety, especially in some crucial phases of flight like take-off and landing. Optimal trajectories could be useful for suitable retrieval of transport aircrafts encountering microburst. These types of trajectories are investigated in this paper for landing phase in two scenarios of escape and landing utilizing the most recent realistic analytical model of the microburst. In this regard, a set of complete six degrees of freedom aircraft's equations of motion is taken in a variation formulation of this problem. This approach is particularly useful for determination of optimal escape or approach trajectories constrained with respect to... 

The main attempt of this paper is to present a new methodology to model a generic low-level flight close to terrain, which guarantees terrain collision avoidance. Benefiting the advantages of high-speed computer technology, this method uses satellite elevation maps to generate so-called "quad-tree forms". The latter is then used to find the optimal trajectories for low-level flights. The novelty of this approach, entitled the "cost map," lies in the integration of aircraft dynamics into the segmented map. This procedure results in some near-optimal trajectories with respect to aircraft dynamics that could easily be used for minimization of flight path together with pilot effort. Different... 

Presented is a novel approach for online trajectory modification of joint motions to transfer a free open kinematic chain, undergoing flight phase, from a specified initial configuration to a specified final configuration. Formally, it is assumed that a nominal trajectory, computed offline, can reorient the kinematic chain (reconfiguration problem) for a given angular momentum on a time interval. A modification algorithm of body joints, based on optimal control, is developed such that for different angular momentums and time intervals, the same reconfiguration problem can be solved online. This approach can be utilised for space robotics applications and online computation of planar running... 

An algorithm for guiding a launch vehicle carrying a small satellite to a sun synchronous LEO is presented. Before the launch, a nominal path and the corresponding nominal control law for the entire journey are computed. For each sampling instant during the guided flight, a linear equation approximately relating the differences between the actual and nominal values is considered, and a LeastSquares formula using data from on-line state measurements is applied to compute the actual control. The coefficient matrices of the Least-Squares formula can be determined by off-line computations. The method enjoys simplicity of implementation by onboard computers, as well as robust accuracy against... 

In this paper, optimal trajectories of a spacecraft traveling from Earth to Moon using impulsive maneuvers (ΔV maneuvers) are investigated. The total flight time and the summation of impulsive maneuvers ΔV are the objective functions to be minimized. The main celestial bodies influencing the motion of the spacecraft in this journey are Sun, Earth and Moon. Therefore, a three-dimensional restricted four-body problem (R4BP) model is utilized to represent the motion of the spacecraft in the gravitational field of these celestial bodies. The total ΔV of the maneuvers is minimized by eliminating the ΔV required for capturing the spacecraft by Moon. In this regard, only a mid-course impulsive... 

In this paper, the problem of designing optimal conflict-free maneuvers for planar multiple aircraft encounters is studied. The maneuvers propose suitable heading changes for aircraft in a cooperative manner. The new mathematical approach provides optimal trajectories to resolve a wide variety of conflicts, especially in the presence of high-altitude Clear Air Turbulence (CAT). The proposed approach effectively uses Genetic Algorithms (GA), together with modified webs, to quickly find conflict-resolving maneuvers. Different case studies show the method is fast enough to be used for real-time applications when resolving conflicts involving two aircraft. It is also efficient enough to resolve... 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to devise a new approach to synthesize closed-loop feedback guidance law for online thrust- insensitive optimal trajectory generation utilizing neural networks. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed methodology utilizes an open- loop variational formulation that initially determines optimal launch/ ascent trajectories for various scenarios of known uncertainties in the thrust profile of typical solid propellant engines. These open-loop optimized trajectories will then provide the knowledge base needed for the subsequent training of a neural network. The trained network could eventually produce thrust-insensitive closed-loop optimal guidance laws...