METHODS FOR REDUCING PLASMA EFFECTS ON THE NASP

WE PROPOSE THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE NEUROCONTROLLER THAT GENERATES TRAJECTORIES WHICH REDUCE PLASMA EFFECTS ON THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM OF THE NASP. WE WILL MODEL PLASMA SHEATH GENERATION AND INCORPORATE THIS MODEL INTO A GHAME FLIGHT SIMULATOR ON A SILICON GRAPHICS WORKSTATION. THIS MODEL WILL THEN BE USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTROLLER AND SUITABLE ADAPTATION LAWS. COST FUNCTIONS WHICH MINIMIZE COMMUNICATIONS BLACKOUTS AND SIMILAR EFFECTS, AS WELL AS TYPICAL ENERGY CONSIDERATIONS, WILL BE RESEARCHED. WE WILL INVESTIGATE TRAINING THE NEUROCONTROLLER USING THE ADAPTIVE CRITIC NEURAL NETWORK BASED UPON THE HEURISTIC DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING, DUAL HEURISTIC PROGRAMMING, OR GLOBAL DUAL HEURISTIC PROGRAMMING CONCEPT. THE APPLICATION OF DRIVE REINFORCED LEARNING AND BACKPROPAGATION-THROUGH-TIME AS COMPONENTS OF THE ADAPTIVE CRITIC APPROACH WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. THIS RESEARCH DRAWS UPON CONTROL THEORY TOGETHER WITH RECENT RESEARCH RESULTS IN NEURAL NETWORKS. THIS APPROACH OFFERS THE PROMISE OF INCREASINGLY INTELLIGENT AND MORE AUTONOMOUS FLIGHT CONTROLLERS, AND HAS ADVANTAGES OVER TRADITIONAL CONTROL APPROACHES.