Sufficiency theorems for target capture

Abstract

A dynamical system is assumed to be governed by a set of ordinary differential equations subject to control. The set of points in state space from which there exist permissible controls that can transfer these points to a prescribed target set in a finite time interval is called a capture set. The task of determining the capture set is studied in two contexts. first, in the case of the system subject to a single control vector; and second, in the case of the system subject to two control vectors each operated independently. In the latter case, it is assumed that one controller's aim is to cause the system to attain the target, and the other's is to prevent that from occurring. Sufficient conditions are developed that, when satisfied everywhere on the interior of some subset of the state space, ensure that this subset is truly a capture set. A candidate capture set is assumed to have already been predetermined by independent methods. The sufficient conditions developed herein require the use of an auxiliary scalar function of the state, similar to a Lyapunov function. To ensure capture, five conditions must be satisfied. Four of these constrain the auxiliary state function. Basically, these four conditions require that the boundary of the controllable set be an envelope of the auxiliary state function and that that function be positive inside the capture set, approaching zero value as the target set is approached. The final condition tests the inner product of the gradient of the auxiliary state function with the system state velocity vector. If the sign of that inner product can be made negative everywhere within the test subset, then that subset is a capture set.