Hybrid System Identification of Manual Tracking Submovements in Parkinson\u27s Disease

Seemingly smooth motions in manual tracking, (e.g., following a moving target with a joystick input) are actually sequences of submovements: short, open-loop motions that have been previously learned. In Parkinson\u27s disease, a neurodegenerative movement disorder, characterizations of motor performance can yield insight into underlying neurological mechanisms and therefore into potential treatment strategies. We focus on characterizing submovements through Hybrid System Identification, in which the dynamics of each submovement, the mode sequence and timing, and switching mechanisms are all unknown. We describe an initialization that provides a mode sequence and estimate of the dynamics of submovements, then apply hybrid optimization techniques based on embedding to solve a constrained nonlinear program. We also use the existing geometric approach for hybrid system identification to analyze our model and explain the deficits and advantages of each. These methods are applied to data gathered from subjects with Parkinson\u27s disease (on and off L-dopa medication) and from age-matched control subjects, and the results compared across groups demonstrating robust differences. Lastly, we develop a scheme to estimate the switching mechanism of the modeled hybrid system by using the principle of maximum margin separating hyperplane, which is a convex optimization problem, over the affine parameters describing the switching surface and provide a means o characterizing when too many or too few parameters are hypothesized to lie in the switching surface

Bias analysis in mode-based Kalman filters for stochastic hybrid systems

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Electrical and Computer EngineeringBalasubramaniam NatarajanStochastic hybrid system (SHS) is a class of dynamical systems that experience interaction of both discrete mode and continuous dynamics with uncertainty. State estimation for SHS has attracted research interests for decades with Kalman filter based solutions dominating the area. Mode-based Kalman filter is an extended version of the traditional Kalman filter for SHS. In general, as Kalman filter is unbiased for non-hybrid system estimation, prior research efforts primarily focus on the behavior of error covariance. In SHS state estimate, mode mismatch errors could result in a bias in the mode-based Kalman filter and have impacts on the continuous state estimation quality. The relationship between mode mismatch errors and estimation stability is an open problem that this dissertation attempts to address. Specifically, the probabilistic model of mode mismatch errors can be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.), correlated across different modes and correlated across time. The proposed approach builds on the idea of modeling the bias evolution as a transformed system. The statistical convergence of the bias dynamics is then mapped to the stability of the transformed system. For each specific model of the mode mismatch error, the system matrix of the transformed system varies which results in challenges for the stability analysis. For the first time, the dissertation derives convergence conditions that provide tolerance regions for the mode mismatch error for three mode mismatch situations. The convergence conditions are derived based on generalized spectral radius theorem, Lyapunov theorem, Schur stability of a matrix polytope and interval matrix method. This research is fundamental in nature and its application is widespread. For example, the spatially and timely correlated mode mismatch errors can effectively capture cyber-attacks and communication link impairments in a cyber-physical system. Therefore, the theory and techniques developed in this dissertation can be used to analyze topology errors in any networked system such as smart grid, smart home, transportation, flight management system etc. The main results provide new insights on the fidelity in discrete state knowledge needed to maintain the performance of a mode-based Kalman filter and provide guidance on design of estimation strategies for SHS

Robust learning of probabilistic hybrid models

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-127).Advances in autonomy, in the fields of control, estimation, and diagnosis, have improved immensely, as seen by spacecraft that navigate toward pinpoint landings, or speech recognition enabled in hand-held devices. Arguably the most important step to controlling and improving a system, is to understand that system. For this reason, accurate models are essential for continued advancements in the field of autonomy. Hybrid stochastic models, such as JMLS and LPHA, allow for representational accuracy of a general scope of problems. The goal of this thesis is to develop a robust method for learning accurate hybrid models automatically from data. A robust method should learn a set of model parameters, but should also avoid convergence to locally optimal solutions that reduce accuracy, and should be less sensitive to sparse or poor quality observation data. These three goals are the focus of this thesis. We present the HML-LPHA algorithm that uses approximate EM for learning maximum likelihood model parameters of LPHA, given a sequence of control inputs {u}0T, and outputs, {y}T+I 1 We implement the algorithm in a scenario that simulates the mechanical wheel failure of the MER Spirit rover wheel and demonstrate empirical convergence of the algorithm. Local convergence is a limitation of many optimization approaches for multimodal functions, including EM. For model learning, this can mean a severe compromise in accuracy. We present the kMeans-EM algorithm, that iteratively learns the locations and shapes of explored local maxima of our model likelihood function, and focuses the search away from these areas of the solution space toward undiscovered maxima that are promising apriori. We find the kMeans-EM algorithm demonstrates iteratively increasing improvement over a Random Restarts method with respect to learning sets of model parameters with higher likelihood values, and reducing Euclidean distance to the true set of model parameters. Lastly, the AHML-LPHA algorithm is an active hybrid model learning approach that augments sparse, and/or very noisy training data, with limited queries of the discrete state.(cont.) We use an active approach for adding data to our training set, where we query at points that obtain the greatest reduction in uncertainty of the distribution over the hybrid state trajectories. Empirical evidence indicates that querying only 6% of the time reduces continous state squared error and MAP mode estimate error of the discrete state. We also find that when the passive learner, HML-LPHA, diverges due to poor initialization or training data, the AHML-LPHA algorithm is capable of convergence; at times, just one query allows for convergence, demonstrating a vast improvement in learning capacity with a very limited amount of data augmentation.by Stephanie Gil.S.M

MIMO-UFMC Transceiver Schemes for Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications

The UFMC modulation is among the most considered solutions for the realization of beyond-OFDM air interfaces for future wireless networks. This paper focuses on the design and analysis of an UFMC transceiver equipped with multiple antennas and operating at millimeter wave carrier frequencies. The paper provides the full mathematical model of a MIMO-UFMC transceiver, taking into account the presence of hybrid analog/digital beamformers at both ends of the communication links. Then, several detection structures are proposed, both for the case of single-packet isolated transmission, and for the case of multiple-packet continuous transmission. In the latter situation, the paper also considers the case in which no guard time among adjacent packets is inserted, trading off an increased level of interference with higher values of spectral efficiency. At the analysis stage, the several considered detection structures and transmission schemes are compared in terms of bit-error-rate, root-mean-square-error, and system throughput. The numerical results show that the proposed transceiver algorithms are effective and that the linear MMSE data detector is capable of well managing the increased interference brought by the removal of guard times among consecutive packets, thus yielding throughput gains of about 10 - 13 $\%$. The effect of phase noise at the receiver is also numerically assessed, and it is shown that the recursive implementation of the linear MMSE exhibits some degree of robustness against this disturbance