Variational integrators for optimal control of foldable drones

Abstract: Numerical methods that preserves geometric invariants of the system such as energy, momentum and symplectic form, are called geometric integrators. These include variational integrators as an important subclass of geometric integrators. The general idea for those variational integrators is to discretize Hamilton's principle rather than the equations of motion and as a consequence these methods preserves some of the invariants of the original system (symplecticity, symmetry, good behavior of energy,...). In this paper, we construct variational integrators for control-dependent Lagrangian systems on Lie groups. These integrators are derived via a discrete-time variational principle for discrete-time control-dependent reduced Lagrangians. We employ the variational integrator into optimal control problems for path planning of foldable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Simulation are shown to validate the performance of the geometric integrator.