Dual Quaternion-Based Powered Descent Guidance with State-Triggered Constraints
Taylor P. Reynolds, Michael Szmuk, Danylo Malyuta, Mehran Mesbahi, Behçet Açıkmeşe, John M. Carson
Abstract
This paper presents a numerical algorithm for computing six-degree-of-freedom free-final-time powered descent guidance trajectories. The trajectory generation problem is formulated using a unit dual quaternion representation of the rigid body dynamics and several standard path constraints. Our formulation also includes a special line-of-sight constraint that is enforced only within a specified band of slant ranges relative to the landing site: a novel feature that is especially relevant to terrain and hazard relative navigation. We use the newly introduced state-triggered constraints to formulate these range constraints in a manner that is amenable to real-time implementations. The resulting nonconvex optimal control problem is solved iteratively as a sequence of convex second-order cone programs that locally approximate the nonconvex problem. Each second-order cone program is solved using a customizable interior point method solver. Also introduced are a scaling method and a new heuristic technique that guide the convergence process toward dynamic feasibility. To demonstrate the capabilities of our algorithm, two numerical case studies are presented. The first studies the effect of including a slant-range-triggered line-of-sight constraint on the resulting trajectories. The second study performs a Monte Carlo analysis to assess the algorithm’s robustness to initial conditions and real-time performance.