Principles Of Optimal Control Theory

In the late 1950's, the group of Soviet mathematicians consisting of L. S. Pontryagin, V. G. Boltyanskii, R. V. Gamkrelidze, and E. F. Mishchenko made fundamental contributions to optimal control theory. Much of their work was collected in their monograph, The Mathematical Theory of Optimal Processes. Subsequently, Professor Gamkrelidze made further important contributions to the theory of necessary conditions for problems of optimal control and general optimization problems. In the present monograph, Professor Gamkrelidze presents his current view of the fundamentals of optimal control theory. It is intended for use in a one-semester graduate course or advanced undergraduate course. We are now making these ideas available in English to all those interested in optimal control theory. West Lafayette, Indiana, USA Leonard D. Berkovitz Translation Editor Vll Preface This book is based on lectures I gave at the Tbilisi State University during the fall of 1974. It contains, in essence, the principles of general control theory and proofs of the maximum principle and basic existence theorems of optimal control theory. Although the proofs of the basic theorems presented here are far from being the shortest, I think they are fully justified from the conceptual view point. In any case, the notions we introduce and the methods developed have one unquestionable advantage -they are constantly used throughout control theory, and not only for the proofs of the theorems presented in this book.

Upper-level undergraduate text introduces aspects of optimal control theory: dynamic programming, Pontryagin's minimum principle, and numerical techniques for trajectory optimization. Numerous figures, tables. Solution guide available upon request. 1970 edition.

This monograph is an introduction to optimal control theory for systems governed by vector ordinary differential equations. It is not intended as a state-of-the-art handbook for researchers. We have tried to keep two types of reader in mind: (1) mathematicians, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates in mathematics who want a concise introduction to a field which contains nontrivial interesting applications of mathematics (for example, weak convergence, convexity, and the theory of ordinary differential equations); (2) economists, applied scientists, and engineers who want to understand some of the mathematical foundations. of optimal control theory. In general, we have emphasized motivation and explanation, avoiding the "definition-axiom-theorem-proof" approach. We make use of a large number of examples, especially one simple canonical example which we carry through the entire book. In proving theorems, we often just prove the simplest case, then state the more general results which can be proved. Many of the more difficult topics are discussed in the "Notes" sections at the end of chapters and several major proofs are in the Appendices. We feel that a solid understanding of basic facts is best attained by at first avoiding excessive generality. We have not tried to give an exhaustive list of references, preferring to refer the reader to existing books or papers with extensive bibliographies. References are given by author's name and the year of publication, e.g., Waltman [1974].

February 27 - March 1, 1997, the conference Optimal Control: The ory, Algorithms, and Applications took place at the University of Florida, hosted by the Center for Applied Optimization. The conference brought together researchers from universities, industry, and government laborato ries in the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, and Sweden. There were forty-five invited talks, including seven talks by students. The conference was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and endorsed by the SIAM Activity Group on Control and Systems Theory, the Mathe matical Programming Society, the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), and the International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS). Since its inception in the 1940s and 1950s, Optimal Control has been closely connected to industrial applications, starting with aerospace. The program for the Gainesville conference, which reflected the rich cross-disci plinary flavor of the field, included aerospace applications as well as both novel and emerging applications to superconductors, diffractive optics, non linear optics, structural analysis, bioreactors, corrosion detection, acoustic flow, process design in chemical engineering, hydroelectric power plants, sterilization of canned foods, robotics, and thermoelastic plates and shells. The three days of the conference were organized around the three confer ence themes, theory, algorithms, and applications. This book is a collection of the papers presented at the Gainesville conference. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors and participants of the conference, the authors, the referees, and the publisher for making this volume possible.

"This paper is intended for the beginner. It is not a state-of-the-art paper for research workers in the field of control theory. Its purpose is to introduce the reader to some of the problems and results in control theory, to illustrate the application of these results, and to provide a guide for his further reading on this subject."--Preface.

Want to know not just what makes rockets go up but how to do it optimally? Optimal control theory has become such an important field in aerospace engineering that no graduate student or practicing engineer can afford to be without a working knowledge of it. This is the first book that begins from scratch to teach the reader the basic principles of the calculus of variations, develop the necessary conditions step-by-step, and introduce the elementary computational techniques of optimal control. This book, with problems and an online solution manual, provides the graduate-level reader with enough introductory knowledge so that he or she can not only read the literature and study the next level textbook but can also apply the theory to find optimal solutions in practice. No more is needed than the usual background of an undergraduate engineering, science, or mathematics program: namely calculus, differential equations, and numerical integration. Although finding optimal solutions for these problems is a complex process involving the calculus of variations, the authors carefully lay out step-by-step the most important theorems and concepts. Numerous examples are worked to demonstrate how to apply the theories to everything from classical problems (e.g., crossing a river in minimum time) to engineering problems (e.g., minimum-fuel launch of a satellite). Throughout the book use is made of the time-optimal launch of a satellite into orbit as an important case study with detailed analysis of two examples: launch from the Moon and launch from Earth. For launching into the field of optimal solutions, look no further!

EDITORIAL REVIEW: This book provides a guided tour in introducing optimal control theory from a practitioner's point of view. As in the first edition, Ross takes the contrarian view that it is not necessary to prove Pontryagin's Principle before using it. Using the same philosophy, the second edition expands the ideas over four chapters: In Chapter 1, basic principles related to problem formulation via a structured approach are introduced: What is a state variable? What is a control variable? What is state space? And so on. In Chapter 2, Pontryagin's Principle is introduced using intuitive ideas from everyday life: Like the process of "measuring" a sandwich and how it relates to costates. A vast number of illustrations are used to explain the concepts without going into the minutia of obscure mathematics. Mnemonics are introduced to help a beginner remember the collection of conditions that constitute Pontryagin's Principle. In Chapter 3, several examples are worked out in detail to illustrate a step-by-step process in applying Pontryagin's Principle. Included in this example is Kalman's linear-quadratic optimal control problem. In Chapter 4, a large number of problems from applied mathematics to management science are solved to illustrate how Pontryagin's Principle is used across the disciplines. Included in this chapter are test problems and solutions. The style of the book is easygoing and engaging. The classical calculus of variations is an unnecessary prerequisite for understanding optimal control theory. Ross uses original references to weave an entertaining historical account of various events. Students, particularly beginners, will embark on a minimum-time trajectory to applying Pontryagin's Principle.