A Primal--Dual Penalty Algorithm and Optimal Control of the Double Integrator

Abstract

We investigate the behaviour of a primal--dual penalty scheme applied to all possible instances, i.e., boundary conditions, of an optimal control problem involving the double integrator. The proposed duality-based framework enables us to derive closed-form expressions for the associated dual functions as well as for the optimal control variables. Furthermore, we provide a complete characterization of the least exact penalty parameter for this problem. The iteration dynamics of the algorithm are examined by constructing and analyzing the trajectories of the constraint functions for every admissible instance of the problem. Finally, we compare the two step-size rules employed in our primal--dual algorithm with two alternative Polyak-type step-size strategies.