15th Triennial World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control
  Barcelona, 21–26 July 2002 
MINIMIZING RADAR EXPOSURE IN AIR VEHICLE PATH PLANNING
Meir Pachter Jeffrey Hebert
Air Force Institute of Technology
AFIT/ENG
2950 P Street, Bldg. 640
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7765

An aircraft exposed to illumination by a tracking radar is considered and the problem of determining an optimal planar trajectory connecting two prespecified points is addressed. An analytic solution yielding the trajectory that minimizes the radar energy reflected from the target is derived using the Calculus of Variations. The solution is shown to exist only if the angle θ f , formed by the lines connecting the radar to the two prespecified trajectory end points, is less than 60°. In addition, expressions are given for the path length and optimal cost.
Keywords: Aircraft Control, Geometry, Path Planning, Optimization Problem, Optimal Trajectory
Session slot T-Mo-M06: Aircraft Control/Area code 8a : Aerospace