scholarly journals Trajectory Optimization for a Cruising Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacking a Target at Back Slope While Subjected to a Wind Gradient

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tieying Jiang ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
Bing Li ◽  
Kewei Huang ◽  
Chengwei Yang ◽  
...  

The trajectory of a tubular launched cruising unmanned aerial vehicle is optimized using the modified direct collocation method for attacking a target at back slope under a wind gradient. A mathematical model of the cruising unmanned aerial vehicle is established based on its operational and motion features under a wind gradient to optimize the trajectory. The motion characteristics of  “altitude adjustment” and “suicide attack” are taken into full account under the combat circumstance of back slope time key targets. By introducing a discrete time function, the trajectory optimization is converted into a nonlinear programming problem and the SNPOT software is applied to solve for the optimal trajectory of the missile under different wind loads. The simulation results show that, for optimized trajectories, the average attack time decreased by up to 29.1% and the energy consumption is reduced by up to 25.9% under specified wind gradient conditions.A,ωdire, andWmaxhave an influence on the flight trajectories of cruising unmanned aerial vehicle. This verifies that the application of modified direct collocation method is reasonable and feasible in an effort to achieve more efficient missile trajectories.

2012 ◽  
Vol 433-440 ◽  
pp. 6652-6656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Liu ◽  
Yu Shan Zhao ◽  
Peng Shi ◽  
Bao Jun Li

Trajectory optimization problem for spacecraft proximity rendezvous with path constraints was discussed using direct collocation method. Firstly, the model of spacecraft proximity rendezvous in elliptic orbit optimization control problem was presented, with the dynamic equations established in the target local orbital frame, and the performance index was minimizing the total fuel consumption. After that the optimal control problem was transcribed into a large scale problem of Nonlinear Programming Problem (NLP) by means of Hermite-Simpson discretization, which was one of the direct collocation methods. Then the nonlinear programming problem was solved using MATLAB software package SNOPT. Finally, to verify this method, the fuel-optimal trajectory for finite thrust was planned for proximity rendezvous with elliptic reference orbit. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method was feasible, and was not sensitive to the initial condition, having good robustness.


Author(s):  
Duo-Neng Liu ◽  
Zhong-Xi Hou ◽  
Zheng Guo ◽  
Xi-Xiang Yang ◽  
Xian-Zhong Gao

Like albatross, unmanned aerial vehicles can significantly make use of wind gradient to extract energy by the flight technique named dynamic soaring. The research aims to develop a general optimization method to compute all the possible patterns of dynamic soaring with a small unmanned aerial vehicle. A direct collocation approach based on the Runge-Kutta integrator is proposed to solve the trajectory optimization problem for dynamic soaring. The optimal dynamic soaring trajectories are classified into two patterns: closed trajectory pattern and travelling trajectory pattern by applying terminal constraints of zero horizontal displacement and a certain travelling direction, respectively. Using different terminal constrains for heading angle and initial guesses in the optimization process, the former pattern can be divided into two subtypes: O-shaped and 8-shaped trajectories, while the latter one is divided into C-shaped, α-shaped, S-shaped and Ω-shaped trajectories. The characteristics of these patterns and the correlation among patterns are analyzed and discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Shi ◽  
Hanping Mao ◽  
Xianping Guan

Abstract. To analyze the droplet deposition under the influence of the flow field of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a hand-held three-dimensional (3D) laser scanner was used to scan 3D images of the UAV. Fluent software was used to simulate the motion characteristics of droplets and flow fields under the conditions of a flight speed of 3 m/s and an altitude of 1.5 m. The results indicated that the ground deposition concentration in the nonrotor flow field was high, the spray field width was 2.6 m, and the droplet deposition concentration was 50 to 200 ug/cm2. Under the influence of the rotor flow field, the widest deposition range of droplets reached 12.8 m. Notably, the droplet deposition uniformity worsened, and the concentration range of the droplet deposition was 0 to 500 ug/cm2. With the downward development of the downwash flow field, the overall velocity of the flow field gradually decreased, and the influence interval of the flow field gradually expanded. In this article, the droplet concentration was verified under simulated working conditions by a field experiment, thereby demonstrating the reliability of the numerical simulation results. This research could provide a basis for determining optimal UAV operating parameters, reducing the drift of droplets and increasing the utilization rate of pesticides. Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Aerial application, Downwash flow field, Droplet deposition, Simulation analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Xiao ◽  
Yipeng Liang ◽  
Chenfan Weng ◽  
Dingcheng Yang ◽  
Qingmin Zhao

In this paper, we consider a ground terminal (GT) to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) wireless communication system where data from GTs are collected by an unmanned aerial vehicle. We propose to use the ground terminal-UAV (G-U) region for the energy consumption model. In particular, to fulfill the data collection task with a minimum energy both of the GTs and UAV, an algorithm that combines optimal trajectory design and resource allocation scheme is proposed which is supposed to solve the optimization problem approximately. We initialize the UAV’s trajectory firstly. Then, the optimal UAV trajectory and GT’s resource allocation are obtained by using the successive convex optimization and Lagrange duality. Moreover, we come up with an efficient algorithm aimed to find an approximate solution by jointly optimizing trajectory and resource allocation. Numerical results show that the proposed solution is efficient. Compared with the benchmark scheme which did not adopt optimizing trajectory, the solution we propose engenders significant performance in energy efficiency.


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