Block-Diagonal Solutions to Lyapunov Inequalities and Generalisations of Diagonal Dominance

Diagonally dominant matrices have many applications in systems and control theory. Linear dynamical systems with scaled diagonally dominant drift matrices, which include stable positive systems, allow for scalable stability analysis. For example, it is known that Lyapunov inequalities for this class of systems admit diagonal solutions. In this paper, we present an extension of scaled diagonally dominance to block partitioned matrices. We show that our definition describes matrices admitting block-diagonal solutions to Lyapunov inequalities and that these solutions can be computed using linear algebraic tools. We also show how in some cases the Lyapunov inequalities can be decoupled into a set of lower dimensional linear matrix inequalities, thus leading to improved scalability. We conclude by illustrating some advantages and limitations of our results with numerical examples.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Proceedings of the Conference on Decision and Control 201

Some Applications of Polynomial Optimization in Operations Research and Real-Time Decision Making

We demonstrate applications of algebraic techniques that optimize and certify polynomial inequalities to problems of interest in the operations research and transportation engineering communities. Three problems are considered: (i) wireless coverage of targeted geographical regions with guaranteed signal quality and minimum transmission power, (ii) computing real-time certificates of collision avoidance for a simple model of an unmanned vehicle (UV) navigating through a cluttered environment, and (iii) designing a nonlinear hovering controller for a quadrotor UV, which has recently been used for load transportation. On our smaller-scale applications, we apply the sum of squares (SOS) relaxation and solve the underlying problems with semidefinite programming. On the larger-scale or real-time applications, we use our recently introduced "SDSOS Optimization" techniques which result in second order cone programs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of real-time applications of sum of squares techniques in optimization and control. No knowledge in dynamics and control is assumed from the reader

Distance to the Nearest Stable Metzler Matrix

This paper considers the non-convex problem of finding the nearest Metzler matrix to a given possibly unstable matrix. Linear systems whose state vector evolves according to a Metzler matrix have many desirable properties in analysis and control with regard to scalability. This motivates the question, how close (in the Frobenius norm of coefficients) to the nearest Metzler matrix are we? Dropping the Metzler constraint, this problem has recently been studied using the theory of dissipative Hamiltonian (DH) systems, which provide a helpful characterization of the feasible set of stable matrices. This work uses the DH theory to provide a block coordinate descent algorithm consisting of a quadratic program with favourable structural properties and a semidefinite program for which recent diagonal dominance results can be used to improve tractability.Comment: To Appear in Proc. of 56th IEEE CD

Sparse sum-of-squares (SOS) optimization: A bridge between DSOS/SDSOS and SOS optimization for sparse polynomials

Optimization over non-negative polynomials is fundamental for nonlinear systems analysis and control. We investigate the relation between three tractable relaxations for optimizing over sparse non-negative polynomials: sparse sum-of-squares (SSOS) optimization, diagonally dominant sum-of-squares (DSOS) optimization, and scaled diagonally dominant sum-of-squares (SDSOS) optimization. We prove that the set of SSOS polynomials, an inner approximation of the cone of SOS polynomials, strictly contains the spaces of sparse DSOS/SDSOS polynomials. When applicable, therefore, SSOS optimization is less conservative than its DSOS/SDSOS counterparts. Numerical results for large-scale sparse polynomial optimization problems demonstrate this fact, and also that SSOS optimization can be faster than DSOS/SDSOS methods despite requiring the solution of semidefinite programs instead of less expensive linear/second-order cone programs.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

H∞ fuzzy control for systems with repeated scalar nonlinearities and random packet losses

Copyright [2009] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.This paper is concerned with the H∞ fuzzy control problem for a class of systems with repeated scalar nonlinearities and random packet losses. A modified Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is proposed in which the consequent parts are composed of a set of discrete-time state equations containing a repeated scalar nonlinearity. Such a model can describe some well-known nonlinear systems such as recurrent neural networks. The measurement transmission between the plant and controller is assumed to be imperfect and a stochastic variable satisfying the Bernoulli random binary distribution is utilized to represent the phenomenon of random packet losses. Attention is focused on the analysis and design of H∞ fuzzy controllers with the same repeated scalar nonlinearities such that the closed-loop T-S fuzzy control system is stochastically stable and preserves a guaranteed H∞ performance. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of admissible controllers, and the cone complementarity linearization procedure is employed to cast the controller design problem into a sequential minimization one subject to linear matrix inequalities, which can be readily solved by using standard numerical software. Two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design method