18,153 research outputs found
Computational optimization of networks of dynamical systems under uncertainties: application to the air transportation system
To efficiently balance traffic demand and capacity, optimization of air traffic management relies on accurate predictions of future capacities, which are inherently uncertain due to weather forecast. This dissertation presents a novel computational efficient approach to address the uncertainties in air traffic system by using chance constrained optimization model. First, a chance constrained model for a single airport ground holding problem is proposed with the concept of service level, which provides a event-oriented performance criterion for uncertainty. With the validated advantage on robust optimal planning under uncertainty, the chance constrained model is developed for joint planning for multiple related airports. The probabilistic capacity constraints of airspace resources provide a quantized way to balance the solution’s robustness and potential cost, which is well validated against the classic stochastic scenario tree-based method. Following the similar idea, the chance constrained model is extended to formulate a traffic flow management problem under probabilistic sector capacities, which is derived from a previous deterministic linear model. The nonlinearity from the chance constraint makes this problem difficult to solve, especially for a large scale case. To address the computational efficiency problem, a novel convex approximation based approach is proposed based on the numerical properties of the Bernstein polynomial. By effectively controlling the approximation error for both the function value and gradient, a first-order algorithm can be adopted to obtain a satisfactory solution which is expected to be optimal. The convex approximation approach is evaluated to be reliable by comparing with a brute-force method.Finally, the specially designed architecture of the convex approximation provides massive independent internal approximation processes, which makes parallel computing to be suitable. A distributed computing framework is designed based on Spark, a big data cluster computing system, to further improve the computational efficiency. By taking the advantage of Spark, the distributed framework enables concurrent executions for the convex approximation processes. Evolved from a basic cloud computing package, Hadoop MapReduce, Spark provides advanced features on in-memory computing and dynamical task allocation. Performed on a small cluster of six workstations, these features are well demonstrated by comparing with MapReduce in solving the chance constrained model
Stochastic Nonlinear Model Predictive Control with Efficient Sample Approximation of Chance Constraints
This paper presents a stochastic model predictive control approach for
nonlinear systems subject to time-invariant probabilistic uncertainties in
model parameters and initial conditions. The stochastic optimal control problem
entails a cost function in terms of expected values and higher moments of the
states, and chance constraints that ensure probabilistic constraint
satisfaction. The generalized polynomial chaos framework is used to propagate
the time-invariant stochastic uncertainties through the nonlinear system
dynamics, and to efficiently sample from the probability densities of the
states to approximate the satisfaction probability of the chance constraints.
To increase computational efficiency by avoiding excessive sampling, a
statistical analysis is proposed to systematically determine a-priori the least
conservative constraint tightening required at a given sample size to guarantee
a desired feasibility probability of the sample-approximated chance constraint
optimization problem. In addition, a method is presented for sample-based
approximation of the analytic gradients of the chance constraints, which
increases the optimization efficiency significantly. The proposed stochastic
nonlinear model predictive control approach is applicable to a broad class of
nonlinear systems with the sufficient condition that each term is analytic with
respect to the states, and separable with respect to the inputs, states and
parameters. The closed-loop performance of the proposed approach is evaluated
using the Williams-Otto reactor with seven states, and ten uncertain parameters
and initial conditions. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the approach
for real-time stochastic model predictive control and its capability to
systematically account for probabilistic uncertainties in contrast to a
nonlinear model predictive control approaches.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Process Contro
Stochastic MPC Design for a Two-Component Granulation Process
We address the issue of control of a stochastic two-component granulation
process in pharmaceutical applications through using Stochastic Model
Predictive Control (SMPC) and model reduction to obtain the desired particle
distribution. We first use the method of moments to reduce the governing
integro-differential equation down to a nonlinear ordinary differential
equation (ODE). This reduced-order model is employed in the SMPC formulation.
The probabilistic constraints in this formulation keep the variance of
particles' drug concentration in an admissible range. To solve the resulting
stochastic optimization problem, we first employ polynomial chaos expansion to
obtain the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of the future state
variables using the uncertain variables' distributions. As a result, the
original stochastic optimization problem for a particulate system is converted
to a deterministic dynamic optimization. This approximation lessens the
computation burden of the controller and makes its real time application
possible.Comment: American control Conference, May, 201
Moment-Sum-Of-Squares Approach For Fast Risk Estimation In Uncertain Environments
In this paper, we address the risk estimation problem where one aims at
estimating the probability of violation of safety constraints for a robot in
the presence of bounded uncertainties with arbitrary probability distributions.
In this problem, an unsafe set is described by level sets of polynomials that
is, in general, a non-convex set. Uncertainty arises due to the probabilistic
parameters of the unsafe set and probabilistic states of the robot. To solve
this problem, we use a moment-based representation of probability
distributions. We describe upper and lower bounds of the risk in terms of a
linear weighted sum of the moments. Weights are coefficients of a univariate
Chebyshev polynomial obtained by solving a sum-of-squares optimization problem
in the offline step. Hence, given a finite number of moments of probability
distributions, risk can be estimated in real-time. We demonstrate the
performance of the provided approach by solving probabilistic collision
checking problems where we aim to find the probability of collision of a robot
with a non-convex obstacle in the presence of probabilistic uncertainties in
the location of the robot and size, location, and geometry of the obstacle.Comment: 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 201
Chance-Constrained Trajectory Optimization for Safe Exploration and Learning of Nonlinear Systems
Learning-based control algorithms require data collection with abundant
supervision for training. Safe exploration algorithms ensure the safety of this
data collection process even when only partial knowledge is available. We
present a new approach for optimal motion planning with safe exploration that
integrates chance-constrained stochastic optimal control with dynamics learning
and feedback control. We derive an iterative convex optimization algorithm that
solves an \underline{Info}rmation-cost \underline{S}tochastic
\underline{N}onlinear \underline{O}ptimal \underline{C}ontrol problem
(Info-SNOC). The optimization objective encodes both optimal performance and
exploration for learning, and the safety is incorporated as distributionally
robust chance constraints. The dynamics are predicted from a robust regression
model that is learned from data. The Info-SNOC algorithm is used to compute a
sub-optimal pool of safe motion plans that aid in exploration for learning
unknown residual dynamics under safety constraints. A stable feedback
controller is used to execute the motion plan and collect data for model
learning. We prove the safety of rollout from our exploration method and
reduction in uncertainty over epochs, thereby guaranteeing the consistency of
our learning method. We validate the effectiveness of Info-SNOC by designing
and implementing a pool of safe trajectories for a planar robot. We demonstrate
that our approach has higher success rate in ensuring safety when compared to a
deterministic trajectory optimization approach.Comment: Submitted to RA-L 2020, review-
- …