Optimal Two-impulse Space Interception with Multi-constraints
This provides an indirect optimization method for constrained space interception, relevant for aerospace engineers designing interceptor trajectories.
The paper tackles optimal two-impulse space interception with multiple constraints (terminal position, impulse/impact times, velocity impulse magnitudes). Using a new dynamic slackness variable method, they solve the problem and find that under time and velocity constraints, two-impulse solutions may occur, but with free impulse times, they can degenerate to one-impulse.
We consider optimal two-impulse space interception problems with multi-constraints. The multi-constraints are imposed on the terminal position of an interceptor, impulse and impact instants, and the component-wise magnitudes of velocity impulses. We formulate these optimization problems as multi-point boundary value problems and the calculus of variations is used to solve them. All inequality constraints are converted into equality constraints by using slackness variable methods in order to use Lagrange multiplier method. A new dynamic slackness variable method is presented. As a result, an indirect optimization method is established for two-impulse space interception problems with multi-constraints. Subsequently, our method is used to solve the two-impulse space interception problems of free-flight ballistic missiles. A number of conclusions have been established based on highly accurate numerical solutions. Specifically, by numerical examples, we show that when time and velocity impulse constraints are imposed, optimal two-impulse solutions may occur, and also if two impulse instants are free, then two-impulse space interception problems with velocity impulse constraints may degenerate to the one-impulse case.