Near-optimal trajectory generation for autonomous aircraft landing

This paper addresses the problem of real-time generation of near-optimal trajectories for air vehicle descent/landing on aircraft carriers in flight director assisted or automatic mode. The problem solved by parametrizing a certain class of near-optimal trajectories for a finite number of representative manoeuvres. The parametrized set of solutions can then be used as zero-order approximations for real-time refinement of near optimal solutions corresponding to manoeuvres not included in the initial parameter set.