Parametrization Approach for Real-Time Generation of Minimum-Effort Trajectories via Neural Network

Abstract: This paper is concerned with real-time generation of optimal flight trajectories for Minimum-Effort Control Problems (MECPs), which is fundamentally important for autonomous flight of aerospace vehicles. Although existing optimal control methods, such as indirect methods and direct methods, can be amended to solve MECPs, it is very challenging to obtain, in real time, the solution trajectories since those methods suffer the issue of convergence. As the artificial neural network can generate its output within a constant time, it has been alternative for real-time generation of optimal trajectories in the literature. The usual way is to train neural networks by solutions from indirect or direct methods, which, however, cannot ensure sufficient conditions for optimality to be met. As a result, the trained neural networks cannot be guaranteed to generate at least locally optimal trajectories. To address this issue, a parametrization approach is developed in the paper so that not only necessary but also sufficient conditions are embedded into a parameterized set of differential equations. This allows generating the data set of at least locally optimal trajectories through solving some initial value problems. Once a neural network is trained by the data set, it can not only generate optimal trajectories within milliseconds but also ensure the generated trajectories to be at least locally optimal, as finally demonstrated by two conventional MECPs in aerospace engineering.