GLIDING STRATEGY DESIGN WITH THE USE OF DISCRETE OPTIMIZATION

Abstract A glider flight strategy design problem can be effectively solved within the framework of optimal control. Optimality relates to glider characteristics and environmental conditions. One is often interested in determining an initial glider altitude position guaranteeing that a required destination point is achievable. Another way of posing such a control problem is linked with a maximal glider range resulting from given initial and environmental conditions. In fact, in practical applications, trying to determine a best flying strategy with the use of optimal approaches, we are usually faced with the problem of a large degree of freedom, which makes the classical analytical and numerical optimization methods ineffective. In this paper we introduce a simple method utilizing a search graph algorithm for the purpose of finding an optimal flight trajectory. We discuss the characteristics of this approach and present results of optimization performed for a glider manufactured by the PZL Swidnik.