An Optimal Engagement Zone Avoidance Scenario in 2-D

TL;DR

This paper formulates and solves various optimal control strategies for a target vehicle to reach a destination in minimum time while avoiding a dynamic engagement zone, comparing different avoidance approaches.

Contribution

It introduces and numerically solves four distinct optimal control strategies for engagement zone avoidance in 2-D motion scenarios.

Findings

Different strategies yield varying optimal paths and times.

Avoidance strategies significantly impact the minimum time to reach the target.

Numerical solutions demonstrate the effectiveness of each approach.

Abstract

In this paper, an optimal control problem is considered where a target vehicle aims to reach a desired location in minimum time while avoiding a dynamic engagement zone. Using simple motion, four potential approaches are considered. First, the min-time strategy which ignores the engagement zone is posed and solved. Second, the min-time strategy which avoids the engagement zone entirely is considered. Third, the min-time strategy which allows for some time in the engagement zone; but, still strives to stay away from the center of the engagement zone is posed. Lastly, a fixed final-time strategy is considered, wherein the target tries to avoid the engagement zone; but, is required to arrive at the desired location at a specific time. Using a nonlinear program solver, the optimal strategies are numerically solved. From the results of the numeric solutions, the optimal strategies are discussed and comparisons are drawn.