Air Release Point Optimization of Parafoil Airdrop Mission with Multiple Drop Zone Targets

To address the optimization of the Computed Air Release Point (CARP) for parafoil systems in mass airdrop missions with multiple targets, a mission planning method that integrates computational geometry and optimal control theory is developed. Based on the kinematic model of a single parafoil, two methods are proposed to determine the ideal feasible release cone for each airdrop target point: the simple cone method and the optimal control method. According to the mission accuracy and the ideal feasible release cone, the discretized maximum feasible release envelope of each airdrop target is automatically generated, and the nonlinear programming problem is constructed to calculate the optimal flight route of the carrier aircraft through the release cone. By minimizing the distance from the airdrop release point to the starting point of the flight into the route, and the energy consumption of each parafoil, the coordinates of the optimal CARP and the navigation control law of individual parafoil are solved. Simulation results show that the algorithm can determine whether an airdrop system can reach the corresponding target, and it can also plan the required airdrop release envelope and even the optimal CARP as well, which plays an important role in real application scenarios.