Inverse-Dynamics Particle Swarm Optimization for Spacecraft Minimum-Time Slew Maneuvers with Constraint

The problem of planning spacecraft minimum time reorientation maneuvers under boundaries and path constraints is addressed. Keep-out constraints for an optical sensor are considered and end-point constraints are imposed to obtain a rest-to-rest maneuver. The recently developed Inverse-dynamics Particle Swarm Optimization is improved and employed to solve the transcribed parameters problem. The numerical optimization technique is based on a dierential flatness formulation of the dynamical system and the application of swarm intelligence to search for the solution. The flat outputs are chosen as the Modied Rodriguez Parameters which are approximated with B-spline curves. State and control are expressed as nonlinear functions of the flat outputs. It is established that the computation of minimum time maneuvers with the proposed technique leads to near optimal solutions, which fully satisfy all the boundaries and path constraints.