Regular Optimal Control Problems with Quadratic Final Penalties

Abstract

Hamilton’s canonical equations (HCEs) have played a central role in Mechanicsafter (i) their equivalence with the principle of least action, and (ii) the variationalcalculus leading to the Euler-Lagrange equation, were established and applied (see[1]). Also, since the foundational work of Pontryagin [22], HCEs have been atthe core of modern optimal control theory. When the problem concerning ann-dimensional control system and an additive cost objective is regular [19], i.e.when the Hamiltonian H(t, x, lambda, u) of the problem is smooth enough and can beuniquely optimized with respect to u at a control value u0(t, x, lambda) (depending onthe remaining variables), then HCEs appear as a set of 2n ordinary differentialequations whose solutions are optimal state-costate time trajectories.