A particle swarm optimization-based time-scaling method for quasi-time-optimal control of rigid spacecraft along specified paths

Abstract

Based on particle swarm optimization (PSO), a time-scaling method is proposed to determine a quasi-time-optimal movement of a rigid spacecraft along a given reference path. In the beginning, a reference trajectory that satisfies the geometric path constraints is synthesized. Then the time-scaling procedure of this trajectory is performed by utilizing integration of a time-scaling function. In this manner, the positions of the trajectory after scaling are kept the same to meet the geometric path constraints. However, the velocities and the accelerations are adjusted to meet the dynamics constraints and to minimize the travelling time simultaneously. To determine the time-scaling function, a cubic spline interpolation technique is used and control points for interpolation are determined simultaneously by a PSO method. To show the feasibility of the proposed method, simulation results are included for illustration.