Advances in Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and application. This book brings together many different aspects of the current research on several fields associated to RL which has been growing rapidly, producing a wide variety of learning algorithms for different applications. Based on 24 Chapters, it covers a very broad variety of topics in RL and their application in autonomous systems. A set of chapters in this book provide a general overview of RL while other chapters focus mostly on the applications of RL paradigms: Game Theory, Multi-Agent Theory, Robotic, Networking Technologies, Vehicular Navigation, Medicine and Industrial Logistic

Reinforcement Learning

Brains rule the world, and brain-like computation is increasingly used in computers and electronic devices. Brain-like computation is about processing and interpreting data or directly putting forward and performing actions. Learning is a very important aspect. This book is on reinforcement learning which involves performing actions to achieve a goal. The first 11 chapters of this book describe and extend the scope of reinforcement learning. The remaining 11 chapters show that there is already wide usage in numerous fields. Reinforcement learning can tackle control tasks that are too complex for traditional, hand-designed, non-learning controllers. As learning computers can deal with technical complexities, the tasks of human operators remain to specify goals on increasingly higher levels. This book shows that reinforcement learning is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and applications and it shall stimulate and encourage new research in this field

A Survey of Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Network Models for Engineering Applications

This survey samples from the ever-growing family of adaptive resonance theory (ART) neural network models used to perform the three primary machine learning modalities, namely, unsupervised, supervised and reinforcement learning. It comprises a representative list from classic to modern ART models, thereby painting a general picture of the architectures developed by researchers over the past 30 years. The learning dynamics of these ART models are briefly described, and their distinctive characteristics such as code representation, long-term memory and corresponding geometric interpretation are discussed. Useful engineering properties of ART (speed, configurability, explainability, parallelization and hardware implementation) are examined along with current challenges. Finally, a compilation of online software libraries is provided. It is expected that this overview will be helpful to new and seasoned ART researchers

Intelligent Learning Control System Design Based on Adaptive Dynamic Programming

Adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) controller is a powerful neural network based control technique that has been investigated, designed, and tested in a wide range of applications for solving optimal control problems in complex systems. The performance of ADP controller is usually obtained by long training periods because the data usage efficiency is low as it discards the samples once used. Experience replay is a powerful technique showing potential to accelerate the training process of learning and control. However, its existing design can not be directly used for model-free ADP design, because it focuses on the forward temporal difference (TD) information (e.g., state-action pair) between the current time step and the future time step, and will need a model network for future information prediction. Uniform random sampling again used for experience replay, is not an efficient technique to learn. Prioritized experience replay (PER) presents important transitions more frequently and has proven to be efficient in the learning process. In order to solve long training periods of ADP controller, the first goal of this thesis is to avoid the usage of model network or identifier of the system. Specifically, the experience tuple is designed with one step backward state-action information and the TD can be achieved by a previous time step and a current time step. The proposed approach is tested for two case studies: cart-pole and triple-link pendulum balancing tasks. The proposed approach improved the required average trial to succeed by 26.5% for cart-pole and 43% for triple-link. The second goal of this thesis is to integrate the efficient learning capability of PER into ADP. The detailed theoretical analysis is presented in order to verify the stability of the proposed control technique. The proposed approach improved the required average trial to succeed compared to traditional ADP controller by 60.56% for cart-pole and 56.89% for triple-link balancing tasks. The final goal of this thesis is to validate ADP controller in smart grid to improve current control performance of virtual synchronous machine (VSM) at sudden load changes and a single line to ground fault and reduce harmonics in shunt active filters (SAF) during different loading conditions. The ADP controller produced the fastest response time, low overshoot and in general, the best performance in comparison to the traditional current controller. In SAF, ADP controller reduced total harmonic distortion (THD) of the source current by an average of 18.41% compared to a traditional current controller alone