TRANSFORM MISSION PLANNING INTO CLASSICAL MECHANICS DOMAIN

ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING PROBLEMS IN AUTOMATED MISSION PLANNING IS THE CREATION OF A ROUTE FOR AN AIRCRAFT TO FOLLOW WHICH IS BOTH FEASIBLE, BASED ON AIRCRAFT KINEMATIC CAPABILITY, AND MINIMIZES THE EXPOSURE OF THE AIRCRAFT TO ENEMY AIR DEFENSES. SEVERAL TECHNIQUES ARE CURRENTLY IN USE WHICH APPROACH THE PROBLEM BY DISCRETIZING EITHER THE SCENARIO REGION OR THE ROUTE OF THE AIRCRAFT. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE BRIEFLY DISCUSS SOME OF THE DRAWBACKS OF THESE TECHNIQUES AND THEN WE DESCRIBE A NEW APPROACH. THE NEW APPROACH IS TO FORMULATE THE PROBLEM AS AN OPTIMAL CONTROL PROBLEM. OPTIMAL CONTROL THEORY HAS PREVIOUSLY BEEN USED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND FOR FINDING OPTIMAL TRAJECTORIES FOR SPACECRAFT. THIS APPROACH HAS THE ADVANTAGE THAT THE DYNAMICS OF THE AIRCRAFT ARE EXPLICITLY MODELED IN THE PROBLEM FORMULATION SO THAT IT WILL ALWAYS PRODUCE FEASIBLE ROUTES. IN ADDITION, IT CAN BE USED TO FIND AN OPTIMUM ROUTE DIRECTLY, WITHOUT A TIME-CONSUMING TRIAL-AND-ERROR PROCESS. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS PROPOSED EFFORT WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF BETTER AUTOMATED MISSION PLANNING SYSTEMS. THIS WILL ALLOW AIRCRAFT TO HAVE A GREATER CHANCE OF SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING THEIR MISSIONS AND RETURNING SAFELY.