Use of Planners for Solar Car Strategy

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Use of Planners for Solar Car Strategy
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Intro to problem

• Route is given, can not change
• Day 1 everyone starts at same time. After that,
  start time is a function of when you stopped the
  previous day
• Can stop within a 45 minute window
• Can only use sunlight to charge batteries (which
  is a function of location and time
• Finish race in shortest time possible.

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Solution 1 Constant Something

• Constant speed
• Constant power
• Constant torque
• Constant power is the most commonly used teams.
  Easiest to implement

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Solution 2 Calculus of Variations

• Represent the problem as a system of equations,
  and solve.
• Calculus of variations is used for optimizing
  problems.
• Works when the exact state of everything is
  exactly known, and can be predicted in the
  future.
• Extremely complex, and hard to implement

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Solution 3 Genetic Algorithms

• Used by the top teams
• Everything else is a complete mystery

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Solution 4 Some type of planner

• Use uncertainty to help develop plans
• Output is still a suggestion
• Still not know if a planner is any better than
  the other methods.

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• http//wsc.pv.unsw.edu.au/