A time-fuel optimal control problem of a cruise missile

Abstract

The inadequacy of the traditional sliding mode variable structure (SMVS) control method for cruise missiles is addressed. An improved SMVS control method is developed, in which the reaching mode segment of the SMVS control is decomposed into an acceleration accessing segment, a speed keeping segment, and a deceleration buffer segment. A time-fuel optimal control problem is formulated as an optimal control problem involving a switched system with unknown switching times and subject to a continuous state inequality constraint. The new design method is developed based on a control parametrization, a time scaling transform and the constraint transcription method. A sequence of approximate optimal parameter selection problems is obtained with fixed switching time points and a canonical state inequality constraint. Each approximate optimal parameter selection problem can be solved effectively by using existing gradient-based optimization techniques. The convergence of these approximate optimal solutions to the true optimal solution is assured. Simulation results show that the proposed method is highly effective. The response speed of the missile under the control law obtained by the proposed method is improved significantly, while the elevator of the missile is constrained to operate within its permitted range. doi:10.1017/S1446181110000088