Fast Trajectory Optimization for Quadrotor Landing on a Moving Platform

This paper addresses the trajectory optimization problem of quadrotor landing on a moving platform. Various state and control constraints are imposed, and a combined optimization objective of minimum-energy and minimum-time is considered. The contribution of the paper is to convert the original nonconvex optimal control problem into a second-order cone programming (SOCP) mainly utilizing the change of variables, equivalent transformation, and linearization. And the SOCP problem can be solved by the interior point method quickly. Then, a successive solution algorithm is proposed, which is found to be able to converge quickly. Especially, the algorithm is guaranteed to converge when the moving platform has a constant velocity vector. Numerical examples have been provided to show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for quadrotor landing on moving platforms.