Paper 4, Section II, 30K30 K

Optimisation and Control
Part II, 2018

Consider the deterministic system

x˙t=ut\dot{x}_{t}=u_{t}

where xtx_{t} and utu_{t} are scalars. Here xtx_{t} is the state variable and the control variable utu_{t} is to be chosen to minimise, for a fixed h>0h>0, the cost

xh2+0hctut2 dtx_{h}^{2}+\int_{0}^{h} c_{t} u_{t}^{2} \mathrm{~d} t

where ctc_{t} is known and ct>c>0c_{t}>c>0 for all tt. Let F(x,t)F(x, t) be the minimal cost from state xx and time tt.

(a) By writing the dynamic programming equation in infinitesimal form and taking the appropriate limit show that F(x,t)F(x, t) satisfies

Ft=infu[ctu2+Fxu],t<h\frac{\partial F}{\partial t}=-\inf _{u}\left[c_{t} u^{2}+\frac{\partial F}{\partial x} u\right], \quad t<h

with boundary condition F(x,h)=x2F(x, h)=x^{2}.

(b) Determine the form of the optimal control in the special case where ctc_{t} is constant, and also in general.