Optimization viewpoint on Kalman smoothing, with applications to robust and sparse estimation

In this paper, we present the optimization formulation of the Kalman filtering and smoothing problems, and use this perspective to develop a variety of extensions and applications. We first formulate classic Kalman smoothing as a least squares problem, highlight special structure, and show that the classic filtering and smoothing algorithms are equivalent to a particular algorithm for solving this problem. Once this equivalence is established, we present extensions of Kalman smoothing to systems with nonlinear process and measurement models, systems with linear and nonlinear inequality constraints, systems with outliers in the measurements or sudden changes in the state, and systems where the sparsity of the state sequence must be accounted for. All extensions preserve the computational efficiency of the classic algorithms, and most of the extensions are illustrated with numerical examples, which are part of an open source Kalman smoothing Matlab/Octave package.Comment: 46 pages, 11 figure

On the finite termination of an entropy function based smoothing Newton method for vertical linear complementarity problems

By using a smooth entropy function to approximate the non-smooth max-type function, a vertical linear complementarity problem (VLCP) can be treated as a family of parameterized smooth equations. A Newton-type method with a testing procedure is proposed to solve such a system. We show that the proposed algorithm finds an exact solution of VLCP in a finite number of iterations, under some conditions milder than those assumed in literature. Some computational results are included to illustrate the potential of this approach.Newton method;Finite termination;Entropy function;Smoothing approximation;Vertical linear complementarity problems

A Semismooth Newton Method for Tensor Eigenvalue Complementarity Problem

In this paper, we consider the tensor eigenvalue complementarity problem which is closely related to the optimality conditions for polynomial optimization, as well as a class of differential inclusions with nonconvex processes. By introducing an NCP-function, we reformulate the tensor eigenvalue complementarity problem as a system of nonlinear equations. We show that this function is strongly semismooth but not differentiable, in which case the classical smoothing methods cannot apply. Furthermore, we propose a damped semismooth Newton method for tensor eigenvalue complementarity problem. A new procedure to evaluate an element of the generalized Jocobian is given, which turns out to be an element of the B-subdifferential under mild assumptions. As a result, the convergence of the damped semismooth Newton method is guaranteed by existing results. The numerical experiments also show that our method is efficient and promising