The book focuses on symplectic pseudospectral methods for nonlinear
optimal control problems and their applications. Both the fundamental
principles and engineering practice are addressed. Symplectic
pseudospectral methods for nonlinear optimal control problems with
complicated factors (i.e., inequality constraints, state-delay,
unspecific terminal time, etc.) are solved under the framework of
indirect methods. The methods developed here offer a high degree of
computational efficiency and accuracy when compared with popular direct
pseudospectral methods. The methods are applied to solve optimal control
problems arising in various engineering fields, particularly in path
planning problems for autonomous vehicles. Given its scope, the book
will benefit researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields
of automatic control, path planning, ordinary differential equations,
etc.