On the optimal control of affine nonlinear systems

The minimization control problem of quadratic functionals for the class of affine nonlinear systems with the hypothesis of nilpotent associated Lie algebra is analyzed. The optimal control corresponding to the first-, second-, and third- order nilpotent operators is determined. In this paper, we have considered the minimum fuel problem for the multi-input nilpotent control and for a scalar input bilinear system for such systems. For the multi-input system, usually an analytic closed-form solution for the optimal control u(i)(star)(t) is not possible and it is necessary to use numerical integration for the set of m nonlinear coupled second-order differential equations. The optimal control of bilinear systems is obtained by considering the Lie algebra generated by the system matrices. It should be noted that we have obtained an open-loop control depending on the initial value of the state x(0).