Date of Award

3-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

First Advisor

David R. Jacques, PhD

Abstract

This study addresses the problem of analyzing the single vehicle path planning problem for radar exposure minimization. The calculus of Variations and optimal control are applied to formulate the cost function and numerical algorithms are used to solve for the optimal paths. Cost sensitivity to path length is analyzed for flight against one radar; a second radar is then included in the formulation and the optimal path for flight between the radars is found for cases of equal and unequal radar power. The costs of the optimal path, direct path, and Voronoi diagram-generated paths are compared. Results indicate low sensitivity of the cost to suboptimal paths for flight versus one radar; against two radars, approaching the Voronoi curves optimally from the endpoints may be feasible for on-line use.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GAE-ENY-01M-07

DTIC Accession Number

ADA390154

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