VIATO-visual interactive aircraft trajectory optimization

An approach towards automated solution of aircraft trajectory optimization problems is introduced and applied to an interactive MS-Windows software called 'Visual Interactive Aircraft Trajectory Optimization' (VIATO). The software solves, e.g., minimum time trajectories to a fixed or to a moving target. It consists of an automated optimization routine and a graphical user interface. The software is easy-to-use and thus its user does not need to know optimal control theory and mathematical modeling. Most mathematical models of flight vehicles are structurally similar and differ only in parameters. In VIATO software the equation of motion and the state and the control constraints are fixed in advance and different aircraft types are represented as a set of parameters. Specifying also objective functions of the optimal control problems the explicit formulation of optimal control problems is totally avoided. Reliable convergence of solution methods is achieved by replacing the original infinite dimensional problem with a finite dimensional approximation. The approximation is solved using nonlinear programming.