Finite time switching optimal control for tilt-rotor aircrafts based on novel time scaling method

In this paper, the optimal control of tilt-rotor aircraft with finite time switching based on time scale method is investigated. By using the switching approach, the longitudinal dynamics model of the transition section of the tilt-rotor aircraft is established and an improved control parameterization method is presented to optimize control. Considering the transition process of the aircraft rotor switching, the finite time control is investigated. Existing methods use a time period as the optimization parameter, which may cause the gradient to be discontinuous at switching instants. To deal with it, a novel time-variable-based time scaling method is proposed. On the basis, the unknown switching instant can be expressed as a known instant, which ensures the continuity of the switching instants, and the optimal switching control problem can be transformed to a parameter selection issue. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a simulation.