Exact Convex Relaxation for Optimal Flight of Aerodynamically Controlled Missiles

This paper investigates optimal flight of aerodynamically controlled missiles in the terminal phase with both angle of attack and bank angle as control inputs. Practical constraints on impact angle and dynamic pressure are all considered. To efficiently and reliably solve such a highly nonlinear (nonconvex) problem, we first present how to obtain its convex relaxation and then propose a regularization technique which is critical to guarantee the exactness of this relaxation. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.