Christopher DSouza

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Trajectory OptimizationFrom Euler to Lawden
to Today

• Christopher DSouza
• The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
• Houston, TX

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Why Optimize?

• Engineers are always interested in finding the
  best solution to the problem at hand
• Fastest
• Fuel Efficient
• Optimization theory allows engineers to
  accomplish this
• Often the solution may not be easily obtained
• In the past, it has been surrounded by a certain
  mystique
• This seminar is aimed at demystifying trajectory
  optimization
• Practical trajectory optimization is now within
  reach
• State of the art computers
• State of the art algorithms
• In order to fully appreciate trajectory
  optimization, however, one must understand
  something about its history
• We need to understand where weve been in order
  to appreciate where we are

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The Greeks started it!

• Queen Dido of Carthage (7 century BC)
• Daughter of the king of Tyre
• Fled Tyre to Tunisia
• Agreed to buy as much land as she could enclose
  with one bulls hide
• Set out to choose the largest amount of land
  possible, with one border along the sea
• A semi-circle with side touching the ocean
• Founded Carthage
• Fell in love with Aeneas but committed suicide
  when he left
• Story immortalized in Homers Aeneid

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The Italians Countered

• Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813)
• His work Mécanique Analytique (Analytical
  Mechanics) (1788) was a mathematical masterpiece
• Invented the method of variations which
  impressed Euler and became calculus of
  variations
• Invented the method of multipliers (Lagrange
  multipliers)
• Sensitivities of the performance index to changes
  in states/constraints
• Became the father of Lagrangian Dynamics
• Euler-Lagrange Equations
• Obtained the equilibrium points of the Earth-Moon
  and Earth-Sun system

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The Multi-Talented Mr. Euler

• Euler (1707-1783)
• Friend of Lagrange
• Published a treatise which became the de facto
  standard of the calculus of variations
• The Method of Finding Curves that Show Some
  Property of Maximum or Minimum
• He solved the brachistachrone (brachistos
  shortest, chronos time) problem very easily
• Minimum time path for a bead on a string
• Cycloid

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The Plot Thickens Hamilton
and Jacobi

• William Hamilton (1805-1865)
• Published work on least action in mechanical
  systems that involved two partial differential
  equations
• Inventor of the quaternion
• Karl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (1804-1851)
• Discovered conjugate points in the fields of
  extremals
• Gave an insightful treatment to the second
  variation
• Jacobi criticized Hamiltons work
• Only one PDE was required
• Hamilton-Jacobi equation
• Became the basis of Bellmans work 100 years later

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The Chicago School

• At the beginning of the twentieth century
  Gilbert Bliss and Oskar Bolza gathered a number
  of mathematicians at the University of Chicago
• Made major advances in calculus of variations
  following on the work of Karl Wilhelm Theodor
  Weierstrass
• Applied this to the field of ballistics during WW
  I
• Artillery firing tables
• Second Variation Conditions (conjugate point
  conditions)
• Built on the work of Legendre, Jacobi, and
  Clebsch
• Graduated many of the premiere applied
  mathematicians of the early/mid 20th century
• M. R. Hestenes
• E. J. McShane

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Derek and the Primer

• During the 1950s, Derek Lawden applied the
  calculus of variations to exo-atmospheric rocket
  trajectories
• Published Optimal Space Trajectories for
  Navigation
• Concerned with thrusting and coasting arcs
• Invented the primer vector
• Direction is along the thrust direction
• Directly related to the velocity Lagrange
  multiplier
• Provided a methodology for determining optimal
  space trajectories

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The Russians are Coming
Pontryagin

• In the mid 1950s a group of Russian Air Force
  officers went to the Steklov Mathematical
  Institute outside of Moscow to find out whether
  the mathematicians could determine a particular
  set of optimal aircraft maneuvers
• Pontryagin, the director of the Institute,
  accepted the challenge and went on to invent a
  new calculus of variations
• The Maximum Principle
• Used the concept of control parameters,
  upravlenie, or u
• Solved the original problem and in the process
  revolutionized optimal control and trajectory
  optimization

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The American Response Bryson

• Arthur Bryson, then at Harvard, an
  aerodynamicist, came across the paper by
  Pontryagin and immediately recognized its value
• He applied it to a problem of finding an minimum
  time to climb trajectory and presented it to the
  military
• It was sent to Pax River and was demonstrated by
  Lt. John Young (using an altitude vs Mach number
  table at 1000 ft intervals)
• 338 seconds vs the predicted 332 seconds
• Path
• Accelerate to M 0.84 at just about ground level
  where drag rise begins
• Climb at constant Mach number to 30,000 ft
• Shallow dive to 24,000 ft followed by a slow
  climb to 30000 ft,
• increasing energy until the energy equals the
  final energy
• Climb very rapidly to desired altitude (20 km)
• Applied this new optimal control theory to
  various aerospace engineering problems,
  particularly those of interest to the US military

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The Inescapable Kalman

• Rudolf Kalman first came on the scene in the late
  50s leading the way to the state space paradigm
  of control theory along with the concepts of
  controllability and observability
• He then introduced an integral performance index
  that had quadratic penalties on the state error
  and control magnitude
• Demonstrated that the optimal controls were
  linear feedbacks of the state variables
• Led to time varying linear systems and MIMO
  systems
• He later collaborated with Bucy to give us the
  Kalman-Bucy filter

As some may know, these concepts were integral
to the success of the guidance and navigation
systems on the Apollo program
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Other Trajectory Optimization Legends

• Richard Bellman
• Introduced a new view and an extension of
  Hamilton-Jacobi theory called Dynamic Programming
  and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation
• Led to a family of extremal paths
• Provides optimal nonlinear feedback
• Curse of dimensionality
• John Breakwell
• Among the first to apply the calculus of
  variations to optimal spacecraft and missile
  trajectories
• Prof. Angelo Miele
• Among the first to develop numerical procedures
  for solving trajectory optimization problems
  (SGRA)
• Dr. Henry (Hank) Kelly
• Developed conditions for singular optimal control
  problems (called the Kelley Conditions in Russia)

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So What?

• The brief reconnaissance into the history of
  trajectory optimization is intended to
  demonstrate the rich heritage which we possess
• It was also intended to prepare us for a
  discussion of where we are and where we are going
• We began this seminar asking the question Why
  optimize?
• Because we are engineers and we want to find the
  best solution
• So, how do we go about optimizing?

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What to Optimize?

• Engineers intuitively know what they are
  interested in optimizing
• Straightforward problems
• Fuel
• Time
• Power
• Effort
• More complex
• Maximum margin
• Minimum risk
• The mathematical quantity we optimize is called a
  cost function or performance index

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The Trajectory Optimization Nomenclature

• Dynamical constraints
• Examples equations of motion (Newtons Laws)
• Controls (u)
• Exogenous (independent) variables which operate
  on the system
• Examples Thrust, flight control surfaces
• States (x)
• Dependent variables which define the state of
  the system
• Examples position, velocity, mass
• Terminal constraints
• Conditions that the initial and final states must
  satisfy
• Example circular orbit with a particular energy
  and inclination
• Path constraints
• Conditions which must be satisfied at all points
  of the trajectory
• Example Thrust bounds
• Point constraints
• Conditions at particular points along the
  trajectory
• Examples way points, maximum heating
• Trajectory optimization seeks to obtain both the
  states and the controls which optimize the chosen
  performance index while satisfying the constraints

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The Optimal Control Problem

• The general trajectory optimization problem can
  be posed as find the states and controls
  which
• subject to the dynamics
• which takes the system from to the
  terminal constraints

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The Optimality Conditions and Pontryagins
Minimum Principle
These are also called the Euler-Lagrange equations
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The Optimality Conditions and Pontryagins
Minimum Principle
The boundary conditions are
There is one additional condition (sometimes
called the Weierstrass Condition) which
must satisfy
for any (the set of controls that
meet the constraints)
All of these conditions are collectively called
the Pontryagin Minimum Principle (PMP)
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Comments on the Pontryagin Minimum Conditions

• The Pontryagin conditions are very powerful tools
  to help find optimal trajectories
• Infinite Dimensional Conditions
• It is a two-point boundary value problem
• States are specified at the initial time
• Costates (Lagrange multipliers) are specified at
  the final time
• Some states (or combinations of states) are
  specified at the final time
• Equivalent to solving a PDE
• Most problems cannot be solved in closed form
• Closed form solutions lend themselves to analysis
• Need to use numerical methods to obtain solutions
  for real-world problems
• No guarantee of a solution
• Convergence issues
• Stability issues
• In the process we convert an infinite dimensional
  problem into a finite dimensional problem
• Implicit in numerical integration

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How to Optimize?

• Two general types of methods exist for solving
  optimal control problems
• Direct Methods
• Discretize the states and controls at points in
  time
• Nodes
• Convert the problem into a parameter optimization
  problem
• States and controls at the nodes become the
  optimizing parameters
• Use an NLP (Non-Linear Program) to solve the
  parameter optimization problem
• Advantages Fast Solution
• Disadvantages Difficult to determine/prove
  optimality
• Indirect Methods
• Operate on the Pontryagin Necessary Conditions
• This is a two-point boundary value problem
• Use Shooting methods
• Advantages Easy to determine optimality
• Disadvantages (Very) difficult to converge

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Direct Methods

• Collocation
• A method in which you choose states and controls
  at points in time along the trajectory
• These points are called nodes
• States and control values at the nodes become the
  optimizing variables
• Convert the infinite dimensional problem into a
  finite dimensional, parameter optimization
  problem
• Enforce the constraints at the nodes
• Dynamic
• Path
• Solved using a NonLinear Program (NLP)
• Types of Spacing
• Uniform spacing
• Nonuniform spacing

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Numerical Optimization Solvers

• The general form of the nonlinear programming
  problem (NLP) is
• My favorite is SNOPT developed by Philip Gill
• Sparse sequential quadratic programming (SQP)
• Can be used for problems with thousands of
  constraints and variables
• State of the art

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Trajectory Optimization Packages

• POST (Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories)
• Direct/Multiple shooting FORTRAN program
  originally developed in 1970 for Space Shuttle
  Trajectory Optimization by NASA Langley
• Generalized point mass, discrete parameter
  targeting and optimization program.
• Provides the capability to target and optimize
  point mass trajectories for a powered or
  unpowered vehicle near an arbitrary rotating,
  oblate planet
• SORT (Simulation and Optimization Rocket
  Trajectories)
• FORTRAN program originally developed for ascent
  vehicle trajectories
• Used to generate Space Shuttle guidance targets
  and maintained by Lockheed-Martin
• Can be used with a optimization package to
  optimize the trajectory
• Variable Metric Methods
• NPSOL
• OTIS (Optimal Trajectories through Implicit
  Simulation)
• FORTRAN program for simulating and optimizing
  point mass trajectories of a wide variety of
  aerospace vehicles from NASA Glenn supported by
  Boeing (Steve Paris) in Seattle
• Originally developed by Hargraves and Paris
• Designed to simulate and optimize trajectories of
  launch vehicles, aircraft, missiles, satellites,
  and interplanetary vehicles
• Can be used to analyze a limited set of
  multi-vehicle problems, such as a multi-stage
  launch system with a fly back booster
• Hermite-Simpson collocation method which uses
  NZOPT as NLP

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State of the Art Optimizers for Optimal Control

• SOCS (Sparse Optimization for Control Systems)
• General-purpose FORTRAN software for solving
  optimal control problems from Boeing (Seattle)
• Trajectory optimization
• Chemical process control
• Machine tool path definition
• Uses Trapezoid, Hermite-Simpson or Runge-Kutta
  integration
• NLP is SPRNLP written by Betts and Huffman
• Uniform node spacing, but can have multiple
  intervals
• Provides mesh refinement for complex problems
• DIDO (Direct and InDirect Optimization)
• Also named after Queen Dido of Carthage
• General-purpose user-friendly MATLAB software for
  solving optimal control problems from NPS
• Non-uniform node spacing with multiple intervals
• Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto points
• Uses a sparse numerical optimization solver
  (SNOPT)
• Can determine if the necessary conditions are
  satisfied
• Has been used to solve a wide variety of missile
  and spacecraft problems
• Very fast even for complex problems

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The Wave of the Future Pseudospectral Methods

• Pseudospectral methods choose the collocation
  points in such a way as to minimize integration
  error
• Number of nodes dependent on accuracy desired
• The nodes are non-uniformly spaced in time
• Quadratic spacing at the ends
• Number determines the spacing
• They use (global basis) functions which
  (optimally) approximate the states and controls
  and enforce the (dynamic and path) constraints at
  the nodes over the interval -1, 1
• Chebyshev-Gauss
• Legendre-Gauss
• Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto
• Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto
• Pseudospectral methods yield spectral accuracy
• Optimal interpolation
• Particularly well suited for trajectory
  optimization problems where much of the activity
  occurs at the ends of the intervals

Includes the end points
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Pseudospectral Point Distribution (N 10)


Quadratic clustering at ends
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Launch Vehicle Example Three Stage to Orbit

• Suppose we wish to find the optimal trajectory
  for a three stage vehicle to get the maximum
  payload to orbit
• Performance index
• Differential constraints (equations of motion)
• Terminal constraints
• Throttle capability (minimum, maximum specified)
• Coast of at least 5 seconds between second and
  third stage
• Maximum of 115 seconds

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Problem Specific Issues

• Coordinate Systems
• Dynamics
• Inertial
• Spherical
• Equinoctial
• Controls
• Angles
• Thrust components
• Direction cosines
• Scaling
• For good convergence properties, we need all the
  variables to be of order 1
• So we scale the states, the controls and the time
  to achieve this
• The art of trajectory optimization
• Tuning knobs

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Three Stage to Orbit Thrust Profile
Maximum Thrust
Minimum Thrust
Coast
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Three Stage to Orbit Thrust Direction Profile
Second Stage Separation
First Stage Separation
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Three Stage to Orbit Mass Profile
First Stage Separation
Second Stage Separation
Coast
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Orbit Transfer

• Optimal transfers between two orbits have been
  the subject of directed research for the past 40
  years
• Much analytical and computational effort has been
  devoted to this task
• Primer vector theory has been applied
• Numerical solutions are sometimes difficult to
  obtain
• The Legendre PseudoSpectral (LPS) method has been
  used to extensively analyze this problem
• Impulsive burn approximations
• Finite burn effects
• Types of coordinate systems
• Cartesian
• Equinoctial
• Nonsingular orbital elements

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Impulsive Orbit Transfer
Elliptical-Elliptical Hohmann Transfer Analytic
Solution ?v1 2076.72 m/s ?v2 87.46 m/s LPS
Solution ?v1 2076.71 m/s ?v2 87.49 m/s
Elliptical-Elliptical Transfer with Inclination
Change Analytic Solution ?v1 2106.13 m/s ?v2
239.69 m/s LPS Solution ?v1 2106.17 m/s ?v2
239.65 m/s
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Finite Burn Orbit Transfer LEO (ISS) to LEO (Sun
Synchronous)

• Finite Burn Accumulated DV
• DV 8027.5 m/s
• Impulsive Burn Accumulated DV
• DV 6548.6 m/s

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Further Applications of LPS

• ISS Momentum Desaturation
• Constellation Design
• Libration point formation designs
• Entry Trajectory Design
• Planetary Mission Design

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What is Next? -- MAHC

• Multi-Agent Hybrid Control (MAHC)
• 21st Century extension of 20th Century optimal
  control
• A general optimization framework for multiple
  vehicles
• Multiple constraints on each vehicle
• Allow for discrete decision variables
• Example
• Two stage vehicle
• Return vehicle must land at a particular point
• Latitude -28.25N 1 km
• Longitude -70.1 E 1 km
• Ascent vehicle continues to a desired orbit while
  maximizing mass to orbit
• The discrete state space is as follows

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Multi-Agent Hybrid Trajectory Optimization
Example Position Profile
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Multi-Agent Hybrid Trajectory Optimization
Example
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Hybrid Trajectory Optimization Example Control
History
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What is Next? -- Real-time Trajectory
Optimization

• Real-time trajectory optimization
• Computational capability is increasing with
  Moores law
• Time is approaching when these (direct) methods
  can be implemented on board vehicles and
  optimized in real-time
• 1 Hz
• Guidance cycles (outer loop) slower than control
  cycles (inner loop)
• Application to orbit (transfer) problem
• Issues
• Convergence
• Stability of solutions

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What is Next? - NOG

• Neighboring Optimal Guidance (NOG)
• A real-time guidance scheme which determines a
  new optimal path which is close to the nominal
  (a priori) optimal path
• Neighboring optimal
• Operates on deviations from the optimal
  trajectory
• Very robust
• Based upon the second variation sufficient
  conditions

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Conclusion

• Trajectory optimization has advanced greatly over
  the past 40 years
• We are at the threshold of a new era for solving
  exciting complex optimization problems
• New methods exist for solving (general) optimal
  control problems
• Trajectory optimization problems are a subset of
  this class
• These methods give (reasonably) fast solutions
  even given poor guesses
• Fast computers
• Good algorithms
• Dont need to know the details of the methods or
  devote your career to optimization
• Just your problem
• Solution of complex trajectory optimization
  problems is within reach of the practicing
  engineer

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Selected References

• Lietmann, G., Optimization Techniques, Academic
  Press, 1962.
• Lawden, D.F., Optimal Trajectories for Space
  Navigation, Butterworths, 1963.
• Bryson, A.E. and Ho, Y-C., Applied Optimal
  Control, Hemisphere Publishing Company, 1975.
• Gill, P.E., Murray, W., and Wright, M.H.,
  Practical Optimization, Academic Press, 1981.
• Fletcher, R., Practical Methods of Optimization,
  Wiley Press, 1987.
• Betts, J.T., Practical Methods for Optimal
  Control Using Nonlinear Programming, SIAM
  Advances in Control and Design Series, 2001.

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Questions?