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Engineering Commons

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Air Force Institute of Technology

2016

Formation flight

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

A Hybrid Optimization Technique Applied To The Intermediate-Target Optimal Control Problem, Clay J. Humphreys, Richard G. Cobb, David R. Jacques, Jonah A. Reeger Aug 2016

A Hybrid Optimization Technique Applied To The Intermediate-Target Optimal Control Problem, Clay J. Humphreys, Richard G. Cobb, David R. Jacques, Jonah A. Reeger

Faculty Publications

The DoD has introduced the concept of Manned-Unmanned Teaming, a subset of which is the loyal wingman. Optimal control techniques have been proposed as a method for rapidly solving the intermediate-target (mid-point constraint) optimal control problem. Initial results using direct orthogonal collocation and a gradient-based method for solving the resulting nonlinear program reveals a tendency to converge to or to get `stuck’ in locally optimal solutions. The literature suggested a hybrid technique in which a particle swarm optimization is used to quickly find a neighborhood of a more globally minimal solution, at which point the algorithm switches to a gradient-based …


Formation Flight Of Earth Satellites On Low-Eccentricity Kam Tori, Christopher T. Craft Mar 2016

Formation Flight Of Earth Satellites On Low-Eccentricity Kam Tori, Christopher T. Craft

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of Earth satellite constellation and formation flight is investigated in the context of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) theory. KAM tori are constructed utilizing Wiesel’s Low-Eccentricity Earth Satellite Theory, allowing numerical representation of the perturbed tori describing Earth orbits acted upon by geopotential perturbations as sets of Fourier series. A maneuvering strategy using the local linearization of the KAM tangent space is developed and applied, demonstrating the ability to maneuver onto and within desired torus surfaces. Constellation and formation design and maintenance on KAM tori are discussed, along with stability and maneuver error concerns. It is shown that placement of satellites …