8,576 research outputs found
Convex inner approximations of nonconvex semialgebraic sets applied to fixed-order controller design
We describe an elementary algorithm to build convex inner approximations of
nonconvex sets. Both input and output sets are basic semialgebraic sets given
as lists of defining multivariate polynomials. Even though no optimality
guarantees can be given (e.g. in terms of volume maximization for bounded
sets), the algorithm is designed to preserve convex boundaries as much as
possible, while removing regions with concave boundaries. In particular, the
algorithm leaves invariant a given convex set. The algorithm is based on
Gloptipoly 3, a public-domain Matlab package solving nonconvex polynomial
optimization problems with the help of convex semidefinite programming
(optimization over linear matrix inequalities, or LMIs). We illustrate how the
algorithm can be used to design fixed-order controllers for linear systems,
following a polynomial approach
A Simple and Efficient Algorithm for Nonlinear Model Predictive Control
We present PANOC, a new algorithm for solving optimal control problems
arising in nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). A usual approach to this
type of problems is sequential quadratic programming (SQP), which requires the
solution of a quadratic program at every iteration and, consequently, inner
iterative procedures. As a result, when the problem is ill-conditioned or the
prediction horizon is large, each outer iteration becomes computationally very
expensive. We propose a line-search algorithm that combines forward-backward
iterations (FB) and Newton-type steps over the recently introduced
forward-backward envelope (FBE), a continuous, real-valued, exact merit
function for the original problem. The curvature information of Newton-type
methods enables asymptotic superlinear rates under mild assumptions at the
limit point, and the proposed algorithm is based on very simple operations:
access to first-order information of the cost and dynamics and low-cost direct
linear algebra. No inner iterative procedure nor Hessian evaluation is
required, making our approach computationally simpler than SQP methods. The
low-memory requirements and simple implementation make our method particularly
suited for embedded NMPC applications
An Alternating Trust Region Algorithm for Distributed Linearly Constrained Nonlinear Programs, Application to the AC Optimal Power Flow
A novel trust region method for solving linearly constrained nonlinear
programs is presented. The proposed technique is amenable to a distributed
implementation, as its salient ingredient is an alternating projected gradient
sweep in place of the Cauchy point computation. It is proven that the algorithm
yields a sequence that globally converges to a critical point. As a result of
some changes to the standard trust region method, namely a proximal
regularisation of the trust region subproblem, it is shown that the local
convergence rate is linear with an arbitrarily small ratio. Thus, convergence
is locally almost superlinear, under standard regularity assumptions. The
proposed method is successfully applied to compute local solutions to
alternating current optimal power flow problems in transmission and
distribution networks. Moreover, the new mechanism for computing a Cauchy point
compares favourably against the standard projected search as for its activity
detection properties
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