Analog neural networks for real-time constrained optimization

Architectures and circuit techniques for implementing general piecewise constrained optimization problems using VLSI techniques are explored. Discrete-time analog techniques are considered due to their inherent accuracy, programmability, and reconfigurability. A general architecture for minimizing piecewise functions by using gradient schemes is introduced. Switched-capacitor (SC) building blocks featuring improved characteristics in terms of area occupation and operation speed are presented. The implementation of the architectures by using the newest switched-current techniques is discussed. The layout of a 3-μm CMOS SC prototype for a quadratic optimization problem with linear constraints is given

Nonlinear analysis of dynamical complex networks

Copyright © 2013 Zidong Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Complex networks are composed of a large number of highly interconnected dynamical units and therefore exhibit very complicated dynamics. Examples of such complex networks include the Internet, that is, a network of routers or domains, the World Wide Web (WWW), that is, a network of websites, the brain, that is, a network of neurons, and an organization, that is, a network of people. Since the introduction of the small-world network principle, a great deal of research has been focused on the dependence of the asymptotic behavior of interconnected oscillatory agents on the structural properties of complex networks. It has been found out that the general structure of the interaction network may play a crucial role in the emergence of synchronization phenomena in various fields such as physics, technology, and the life sciences

Stochastic model predictive control for constrained networked control systems with random time delay

In this paper the continuous time stochastic constrained optimal control problem is formulated for the class of networked control systems assuming that time delays follow a discrete-time, finite Markov chain . Polytopic overapproximations of the system's trajectories are employed to produce a polyhedral inner approximation of the non-convex constraint set resulting from imposing the constraints in continuous time. The problem is cast in a Markov jump linear systems (MJLS) framework and a stochastic MPC controller is calculated explicitly, oine, coupling dynamic programming with parametric piecewise quadratic (PWQ) optimization. The calculated control law leads to stochastic stability of the closed loop system, in the mean square sense and respects the state and input constraints in continuous time

Minimally Constrained Stable Switched Systems and Application to Co-simulation

We propose an algorithm to restrict the switching signals of a constrained switched system in order to guarantee its stability, while at the same time attempting to keep the largest possible set of allowed switching signals. Our work is motivated by applications to (co-)simulation, where numerical stability is a hard constraint, but should be attained by restricting as little as possible the allowed behaviours of the simulators. We apply our results to certify the stability of an adaptive co-simulation orchestration algorithm, which selects the optimal switching signal at run-time, as a function of (varying) performance and accuracy requirements.Comment: Technical report complementing the following conference publication: Gomes, Cl\'audio, Beno\^it Legat, Rapha\"el Jungers, and Hans Vangheluwe. "Minimally Constrained Stable Switched Systems and Application to Co-Simulation." In IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. Miami Beach, FL, USA, 201

Optimal control of discrete-time switched linear systems via continuous parameterization

The paper presents a novel method for designing an optimal controller for discrete-time switched linear systems. The problem is formulated as one of computing the discrete mode sequence and the continuous input sequence that jointly minimize a quadratic performance index. State-of-art methods for solving such a control problem suffer in general from a high computational requirement due to the fact that an exponential number of switching sequences must be explored. The method of this paper addresses the challenge of the switching law design by introducing auxiliary continuous input variables and then solving a non-smooth block-sparsity inducing optimization problem.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; To appear in the Proceedings of IFAC World Congress, 201

Consistent Approximations for the Optimal Control of Constrained Switched Systems

Though switched dynamical systems have shown great utility in modeling a variety of physical phenomena, the construction of an optimal control of such systems has proven difficult since it demands some type of optimal mode scheduling. In this paper, we devise an algorithm for the computation of an optimal control of constrained nonlinear switched dynamical systems. The control parameter for such systems include a continuous-valued input and discrete-valued input, where the latter corresponds to the mode of the switched system that is active at a particular instance in time. Our approach, which we prove converges to local minimizers of the constrained optimal control problem, first relaxes the discrete-valued input, then performs traditional optimal control, and then projects the constructed relaxed discrete-valued input back to a pure discrete-valued input by employing an extension to the classical Chattering Lemma that we prove. We extend this algorithm by formulating a computationally implementable algorithm which works by discretizing the time interval over which the switched dynamical system is defined. Importantly, we prove that this implementable algorithm constructs a sequence of points by recursive application that converge to the local minimizers of the original constrained optimal control problem. Four simulation experiments are included to validate the theoretical developments