HYBRID APPROACH TO SOLUTION OF OPTIMAL-CONTROL PROBLEMS

This paper proposes a solution approach for nonlinear optimization problems that seeks to combine the desirable features of analytic methods that are based on use of simplified models and numerical methods that use piecewise elementary interpolation functions to represent the solution. The approach is illustrated by a combination of regular perturbation analysis and the method of collocation, although other combinations of model simplification and numerical solution methods can also be envisioned. A simple fourth-order nonlinear system is used to illustrate the conceptual approach for several possible levels of approximation,