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Energy Minimizing Mountain Ascent

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Abstract

In this article, an optimal mountain ascent is studied as a particular problem of a human walking over a rugged terrain. First, an approximation of the terrain is constructed using particular smooth splines—macro-elements. Then a functional measuring the energy consumption along boundary curves of a macro-element is defined. Finally, the corresponding discrete problem of finding the optimal path on a mesh of curves is applied. Numerical results on real-life data indicate that computed paths are a good approximation of hiking paths in nature.

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Acknowledgements

Operation partly-financed by the European Union, European Social Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FMF, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Gašper Jaklič, Tadej Kanduč & Emil Žagar

  2. IMFM, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Gašper Jaklič, Selena Praprotnik & Emil Žagar

  3. IAM, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia

    Gašper Jaklič

  4. Turboinštitut, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tadej Kanduč

Authors
  1. Gašper Jaklič
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  2. Tadej Kanduč
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  3. Selena Praprotnik
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  4. Emil Žagar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Selena Praprotnik.

Additional information

Communicated by Ilio Galligani.

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Jaklič, G., Kanduč, T., Praprotnik, S. et al. Energy Minimizing Mountain Ascent. J Optim Theory Appl 155, 680–693 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10957-012-0088-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10957-012-0088-4

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