Lower Bounds on Complexity of Lyapunov Functions for Switched Linear Systems

We show that for any positive integer $d$, there are families of switched linear systems---in fixed dimension and defined by two matrices only---that are stable under arbitrary switching but do not admit (i) a polynomial Lyapunov function of degree $\leq d$, or (ii) a polytopic Lyapunov function with $\leq d$ facets, or (iii) a piecewise quadratic Lyapunov function with $\leq d$ pieces. This implies that there cannot be an upper bound on the size of the linear and semidefinite programs that search for such stability certificates. Several constructive and non-constructive arguments are presented which connect our problem to known (and rather classical) results in the literature regarding the finiteness conjecture, undecidability, and non-algebraicity of the joint spectral radius. In particular, we show that existence of an extremal piecewise algebraic Lyapunov function implies the finiteness property of the optimal product, generalizing a result of Lagarias and Wang. As a corollary, we prove that the finiteness property holds for sets of matrices with an extremal Lyapunov function belonging to some of the most popular function classes in controls

Semidefinite Relaxations for Stochastic Optimal Control Policies

Recent results in the study of the Hamilton Jacobi Bellman (HJB) equation have led to the discovery of a formulation of the value function as a linear Partial Differential Equation (PDE) for stochastic nonlinear systems with a mild constraint on their disturbances. This has yielded promising directions for research in the planning and control of nonlinear systems. This work proposes a new method obtaining approximate solutions to these linear stochastic optimal control (SOC) problems. A candidate polynomial with variable coefficients is proposed as the solution to the SOC problem. A Sum of Squares (SOS) relaxation is then taken to the partial differential constraints, leading to a hierarchy of semidefinite relaxations with improving sub-optimality gap. The resulting approximate solutions are shown to be guaranteed over- and under-approximations for the optimal value function.Comment: Preprint. Accepted to American Controls Conference (ACC) 2014 in Portland, Oregon. 7 pages, colo

Joint Spectral Radius and Path-Complete Graph Lyapunov Functions

We introduce the framework of path-complete graph Lyapunov functions for approximation of the joint spectral radius. The approach is based on the analysis of the underlying switched system via inequalities imposed among multiple Lyapunov functions associated to a labeled directed graph. Inspired by concepts in automata theory and symbolic dynamics, we define a class of graphs called path-complete graphs, and show that any such graph gives rise to a method for proving stability of the switched system. This enables us to derive several asymptotically tight hierarchies of semidefinite programming relaxations that unify and generalize many existing techniques such as common quadratic, common sum of squares, and maximum/minimum-of-quadratics Lyapunov functions. We compare the quality of approximation obtained by certain classes of path-complete graphs including a family of dual graphs and all path-complete graphs with two nodes on an alphabet of two matrices. We provide approximation guarantees for several families of path-complete graphs, such as the De Bruijn graphs, establishing as a byproduct a constructive converse Lyapunov theorem for maximum/minimum-of-quadratics Lyapunov functions.Comment: To appear in SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. Version 2 has gone through two major rounds of revision. In particular, a section on the performance of our algorithm on application-motivated problems has been added and a more comprehensive literature review is presente

On feedback stabilization of linear switched systems via switching signal control

Motivated by recent applications in control theory, we study the feedback stabilizability of switched systems, where one is allowed to chose the switching signal as a function of $x(t)$ in order to stabilize the system. We propose new algorithms and analyze several mathematical features of the problem which were unnoticed up to now, to our knowledge. We prove complexity results, (in-)equivalence between various notions of stabilizability, existence of Lyapunov functions, and provide a case study for a paradigmatic example introduced by Stanford and Urbano.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Mini-Workshop: Applied Koopmanism

Koopman and Perron–Frobenius operators are linear operators that encapsulate dynamics of nonlinear dynamical systems without loss of information. This is accomplished by embedding the dynamics into a larger infinite-dimensional space where the focus of study is shifted from trajectory curves to measurement functions evaluated along trajectories and densities of trajectories evolving in time. Operator-theoretic approach to dynamics shares many features with an optimization technique: the Lasserre moment–sums-of-squares (SOS) hierarchies, which was developed for numerically solving non-convex optimization problems with semialgebraic data. This technique embeds the optimization problem into a larger primal semidefinite programming (SDP) problem consisting of measure optimization over the set of globally optimal solutions, where measures are manipulated through their truncated moment sequences. The dual SDP problem uses SOS representations to certify bounds on the global optimum. This workshop highlighted the common threads between the operator-theoretic dynamical systems and moment–SOS hierarchies in optimization and explored the future directions where the synergy of the two techniques could yield results in fluid dynamics, control theory, optimization, and spectral theory

Algebraic Relaxations and Hardness Results in Polynomial Optimization and Lyapunov Analysis

This thesis settles a number of questions related to computational complexity and algebraic, semidefinite programming based relaxations in optimization and control.Comment: PhD Thesis, MIT, September, 201