2023/05/23 by Amin Jafarimoghaddam, Jafarimoghaddam, Amin, Manuel Soler +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · #Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems #Control and Optimization #FOS: Mathematics #Optimization and Control (math.OC) #Spacecraft Dynamics and Control #Transportation and Mobility Innovations
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.13577
openalex publication_date 2023/05/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this research, we consider the commercial aircraft trajectory optimization problem for a general cruise model with arbitrary spatial wind fields to be solved using the Pontryagin maximum principle. The model features two fundamental controls, namely, throttle setting (which appears as a singular control) and heading angle (appearing as a regular control). For a constrained problem with minimum time-fuel objective, we show that the optimal heading angle is fully defined through the classic Zermelo navigation identity. We also show that the optimal throttle setting can be characterized through a complete feedback function. The switching-point algorithm is employed to solve a case study where we inspect the optimality conditions and graph the optimal controls together with the optimal state and co-state variables.