Affine Generalized Inverse for Optimal Control Allocation

This research is a follow on to the "Optimal Control Prediction Method for Control Allocation" paper in which the Prediction Method iterative algorithm was introduced. Previously, the Prediction Method was shown to provide optimal control allocation solutions over the entire Attainable Moment Set for the Moore-Penrose and the generalized (weighted) inverse. As an extension to the Prediction Method, this paper introduces a family of Moore Penrose Affine Generalized Inverses, applicable for all moments, which compute control allocation solutions using a constant matrix and fixed null-space vector. The Moore-Penrose Affine Generalized Inverse is proven to yield equivalent solutions to those of the Prediction Method and therefore is guaranteed to yield Moore-Penrose optimal control allocation solutions. While the Prediction Method is applicable for any moment along an a priori specified moment direction, the Affine Generalized Inverse is shown to yield optimal control allocation solutions in a neighborhood of the given moment which is not restricted to a specified moment direction. Furthermore, the Affine Generalized Inverse is shown to provide the time derivative of optimal control allocation solutions and to facilitate maintaining solutions within control effector rate limitations. The Moore-Penrose Affine Generalized Inverse is broadened to encompass any arbitrary (weighted) Affine Generalized Inverse. Finally, a method of creating a moment lookup table is outlined to utilize the Affine Generalized Inverse as an offline control allocation solution for all moments in the Attainable Moment Set

Optimal Control Prediction Method for Control Allocation

This paper proposes a novel prediction method for online optimal control allocation that extends the volume of moments achievable with the Moore-Penrose generalized inverse to the entire Attainable Moment Set. This method formulates the control allocation problem using selected basis vectors and associated gains which reduces the optimization problem dimensions and provides physical insight into the resulting optimal solutions. The proposed algorithm finds the entire family of unique optimal control solutions along the desired moment vector from the origin to the boundary of the Attainable Moment Set. Numerical results for the Moore-Penrose prediction method show that the unique minimal controls obtained yield the desired moment with near machine precision accuracy while maintaining control effectors within specified position limits. This method has been fully validated against the unique solution obtained on the boundary of the Attainable Moment Set using the Durham Direct Allocation method. Minimal control solutions obtained for moments in the interior of the Attainable Moment Set, similarly yield the desired moment to near machine precision while providing control solutions that are smaller (i.e. 2-norm) than solutions found with traditional control allocation algorithms (e.g. interior point methods) applied to the minimal control problem. Numerical simulations using a Matlab autocoded executable (MEX) for the representative real world problem of 3-moments with 20 individual control effectors and prescribed control position limits show a mean computation speed of approximately 125 Hz which is sufficient to enable real-time flight allocation

Numerical iterative methods for nonlinear problems.

The primary focus of research in this thesis is to address the construction of iterative methods for nonlinear problems coming from different disciplines. The present manuscript sheds light on the development of iterative schemes for scalar nonlinear equations, for computing the generalized inverse of a matrix, for general classes of systems of nonlinear equations and specific systems of nonlinear equations associated with ordinary and partial differential equations. Our treatment of the considered iterative schemes consists of two parts: in the first called the ’construction part’ we define the solution method; in the second part we establish the proof of local convergence and we derive convergence-order, by using symbolic algebra tools. The quantitative measure in terms of floating-point operations and the quality of the computed solution, when real nonlinear problems are considered, provide the efficiency comparison among the proposed and the existing iterative schemes. In the case of systems of nonlinear equations, the multi-step extensions are formed in such a way that very economical iterative methods are provided, from a computational viewpoint. Especially in the multi-step versions of an iterative method for systems of nonlinear equations, the Jacobians inverses are avoided which make the iterative process computationally very fast. When considering special systems of nonlinear equations associated with ordinary and partial differential equations, we can use higher-order Frechet derivatives thanks to the special type of nonlinearity: from a computational viewpoint such an approach has to be avoided in the case of general systems of nonlinear equations due to the high computational cost. Aside from nonlinear equations, an efficient matrix iteration method is developed and implemented for the calculation of weighted Moore-Penrose inverse. Finally, a variety of nonlinear problems have been numerically tested in order to show the correctness and the computational efficiency of our developed iterative algorithms

Fast solving of Weighted Pairing Least-Squares systems

This paper presents a generalization of the "weighted least-squares" (WLS), named "weighted pairing least-squares" (WPLS), which uses a rectangular weight matrix and is suitable for data alignment problems. Two fast solving methods, suitable for solving full rank systems as well as rank deficient systems, are studied. Computational experiments clearly show that the best method, in terms of speed, accuracy, and numerical stability, is based on a special {1, 2, 3}-inverse, whose computation reduces to a very simple generalization of the usual "Cholesky factorization-backward substitution" method for solving linear systems