Patent Document ID: 9983585
Application ID: 15427858
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of guiding a sensor comprising a rigid body system over a group of vertices during a transition of the rigid body system from an initial system state utilizing a plurality of actuators, the method comprising: communicating input data to a processor comprising a memory, where the input data comprises: a plurality of vertices l and a value indicator v for every vertex l in the plurality of vertices l, where the every vertex l comprises a point defined by a coordinate in an l-space, where the l-space is a real coordinate space, and where the value indicator v for the every vertex l defines an intrinsic value for the every vertex l; and a state vector x(t o ) where the state vector x(t o ) comprises an initial time t o ; a final time t f where the final time t f is later than the initial time t o ; providing a control policy for steering the sensor over an optimized curve s using the processor, where the processor is programmed to perform steps comprising; storing each vertex l and the value indicator v for the each vertex l in the memory; establishing a time interval from the initial time t o to the final time t f ; defining an initial curve s, where the initial curve s is a curve through the l-space and where the initial curve s is parameterized by a time t, and where the initial curve s is a function of a u(t), an x(t), and a function L(x), and where the u(t) and the x(t) comprise a state space model {dot over (x)}(t), where the u(t) is one or more control variables of the rigid body system parameterized by the time t, the x(t) is one or more state variables of the rigid body system parameterized by the time t, the x(t) is functionally related to the u(t), and the function L(x) maps the state space model {dot over (x)}(t) from a state space of the rigid body system to the l-space; optimizing the initial curve s subject to at least one constraint on the u(t), the x(t), or a combination of the u(t) and the x(t), and determining an optimized curve s in the l-space by evaluating an indicator function for each individual vertex l comprising the plurality of vertices l, where the indicator function for the each individual vertex l is equal to a first constant when the each individual vertex l coincides with at least some portion of the initial curve s over the time interval and equal to a second constant when the each individual vertex l does not coincide with at least some portion of the initial curve s over the time interval, and evaluating a payoff functional P s for the curve s, where the payoff functional P s comprises a summation of the value indicator v for the each single vertex l multiplied by the indicator function for the each single vertex l, and designating the initial curve s when the payoff functional P s achieves a maxima as the optimized curve s, thereby solving for the optimized curve s; quantifying the u(t) for the optimized curve s and providing a control policy for steering the sensor over the optimized curve s, where the control policy comprises the quantified u(t) for the optimized curve s over the time interval; and communicating the control policy to a communications port comprising the rigid body system; and communicating the control policy from the communications port to a plurality of actuators comprising the rigid body system to guide the sensor comprising the rigid body system over the group of vertices during the transition from the initial system state.