Abstract: The key mission points in the climbing phase of an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle, considering the aerodynamic/propulsion characteristics and parameter uncertainty of the vehicle in the flight mission, are optimally selected in this paper. The robust optimization idea, combined with the cruise performance index, is feasible for the optimal selection. Firstly, the energy-state analysis is combined with the engine constraints to determine the initial mission point for climbing. Then, according to the cruise performance analysis of the vehicle, the performance index of the aerodynamic/propulsion efficiency is proposed to optimize the end mission point for climbing. Finally, the mission window at the end of the climbing is determined by the robust optimization, considering the uncertainty of the centroid position of the air-breathing hypersonic vehicle. The simulation results illustrate that the optimal selection process is fast and feasible. Meanwhile, the mission window satisfies both the cruise performance requirements of the air-breathing hypersonic vehicle and the worst case constraints of uncertainty, which has strong robustness.

Key words: Air-breathing hypersonic vehicle, Climbing phase, Parametric model, Robust optimization, Flight control