On rational Minkowski Pythagorean hodograph curves Original Research Article

Minkowski Pythagorean hodograph curves are polynomial curves with polynomial speed, measured with respect to Minkowski norm. Curves of this special class are particularly well suited for representing medial axis transforms of planar domains. In the present paper we generalize this polynomial class to a rational class of curves in Minkowski 3-space. We show that any rational Minkowski Pythagorean hodograph curve can be obtained in terms of its associated planar rational Pythagorean hodograph curve and an additional rational function. Moreover, both in the original polynomial and new rational case, we investigate the close relationship between these associated curves in Euclidean plane and Minkowski space.