Convergence Rate for a Gauss Collocation Method Applied to Unconstrained Optimal Control

A local convergence rate is established for an orthogonal collocation method based on Gauss quadrature applied to an unconstrained optimal control problem. If the continuous problem has a smooth solution and the Hamiltonian satisfies a strong convexity condition, then the discrete problem possesses a local minimizer in a neighborhood of the continuous solution, and as the number of collocation points increases, the discrete solution converges to the continuous solution at the collocation points, exponentially fast in the sup‐norm. Numerical examples illustrating the convergence theory are provided.