Optimal Boundary Control of a Distributed Heterogeneous Vibrating System with Given States at Intermediate Times

The problem of optimal boundary control of a distributed heterogeneous vibrating system governed by the one-dimensional wave equation with piecewise constant characteristics is considered. It is assumed that each homogeneous segment is traveled by a wave over the same time. The control is performed via displacements of both ends. The cost functional is specified on the whole time interval. A constructive approach is proposed for finding an optimal control function that transfers the vibrations from an initial state through multipoint intermediate states to a terminal state over a given time interval. The results are illustrated by an example.