Trajectory Optimization

Minimize subject to .

This example demonstrates how a variational problem can be discretized to a finite optimization problem efficiently solved by convex methods, such as QuadraticOptimization.

The variational problem will be approximated by discretizing the boundary value problem and using the trapezoidal rule to integrate on a uniformly spaced grid on the interval [0,1], with .

Let the variable u[i] represent and x[i] represent for .

The differential equation constraint is easily represented using centered second-order difference approximations for from 1 to .

At the boundary, the zero derivative conditions allow for the use of fictitious points and . When and , the second-order difference formula for the first derivative is zero for and . Thus, at the boundary, use the following.

The trapezoidal rule for is given by the following.

Since the expression from the trapezoidal rule is quadratic and all of the constraints are linear equality constraints, the minimum of the discretized integral can be found using QuadraticOptimization directly.

Approximate functions are constructed with Interpolation.

An exact analytic solution, , is known for this problem, so it is possible to plot the error in the discretization.

The asymptotic error is roughly , so by doubling to 200 and recomputing, the error will be about 1/4 of what is shown here.

The analytic solution can be found by considering a family of curves where is a parameter. This parametric curve satisfies the prescribed boundary conditions . Since , one can find an optimal parameter that minimizes .

The optimal value of is at 2, which is the analytic result .