A new nonlinear model predictive control algorithm using differential transformation with application to interplanetary low-thrust trajectory tracking

A nonlinear model predictive control algorithm (NMPC) is proposed that incorporates a novel differential transformation (DT) based algorithm for the repeated computation of the open-loop optimal control problem. This DT method converts the two-point boundary value problem from the indirect optimization approach into a set of algebraic equations, which is a less computationally expensive way of solving the open-loop problem. The new NMPC algorithm is applied to an interplanetary low-thrust trajectory tracking problem.