Large-Scale Direct Optimal Control Applied to a Re-Entry Problem

: We present the numerical solution of an atmospheric reentry problem for a space shuttle. We discretize the control and state with the same grid, and use a large-scale successive quadratic programming technique. With the help of sliding horizon and successive refinement of the discretization, we can solve on a workstation a problem with 1600 time step, an unusually large figure for this kind of real world optimal control problem. Key-words: Optimal control, Discretization, Path following, Differential equations, Newton's method, Successive quadratic programming. (R'esum'e : tsvp) Frederic.Bonnans@inria.fr Genevieve.Launay@inria.fr Unite de recherche INRIA Rocquencourt Domaine de Voluceau, Rocquencourt, BP 105, 78153 LE CHESNAY Cedex (France) Telephone : (33 1) 39 63 55 11 -- Telecopie : (33 1) 39 63 53 30 Une m'ethode directe de controle optimal de grande taille appliqu'ee au probl`eme de rentr'ee R'esum'e : Nous pr'esentons la r'esolution num'erique du probl`eme de la rentr'...