Composing MPC with LQR and Neural Network for Amortized Efficiency and Stable Control

Model predictive control (MPC) is a powerful control method that handles dynamical systems with constraints. However, solving MPC iteratively in real time, i.e., implicit MPC, remains a computational challenge. To address this, common solutions include explicit MPC and function approximation. Both methods, whenever applicable, may improve the computational efficiency of the implicit MPC by several orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, explicit MPC often requires expensive pre-computation and does not easily apply to higher-dimensional problems. Meanwhile, function approximation, although scales better with dimension, still requires pre-training on a large dataset and generally cannot guarantee to find an accurate surrogate policy, the failure of which often leads to closed-loop instability. To address these issues, we propose a triple-mode hybrid control scheme, named Memory-Augmented MPC, by combining a linear quadratic regulator, a neural network, and an MPC. From its standard form, we further derive two variants of such hybrid control scheme: one customized for chaotic systems and the other for slow systems. The proposed scheme does not require pre-computation and can improve the amortized running time of the composed MPC with a well-trained neural network. In addition, the scheme maintains closed-loop stability with any neural networks of proper input and output dimensions, alleviating the need for certifying optimality of the neural network in safety-critical applications.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

Stability of hybrid model predictive control

In this paper we investigate the stability of hybrid systems in closed-loop with Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) and we derive a priori sufficient conditions for Lyapunov asymptotic stability and exponential stability. A general theory is presented which proves that Lyapunov stability is achieved for both terminal cost and constraint set and terminal equality constraint hybrid MPC, even though the considered Lyapunov function and the system dynamics may be discontinuous. For particular choices of MPC criteria and constrained Piecewise Affine (PWA) systems as the prediction models we develop novel algorithms for computing the terminal cost and the terminal constraint set. For a quadratic MPC cost, the stabilization conditions translate into a linear matrix inequality while, for an 1-norm based MPC cost, they are obtained as 1-norm inequalities. It is shown that by using 1-norms, the terminal constraint set is automatically obtained as a polyhedron or a finite union of polyhedra by taking a sublevel set of the calculated terminal cost function. New algorithms are developed for calculating polyhedral or piecewise polyhedral positively invariant sets for PWA systems. In this manner, the on-line optimization problem leads to a mixed integer quadratic programming problem or to a mixed integer linear programming problem, which can be solved by standard optimization tools. Several examples illustrate the effectiveness of the developed methodology

Non-smooth model predictive control: stability and applications to hybrid systems

In this report we investigate the stability of hybrid systems in closed-loop with Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) and we derive a priori sufficient conditions for Lyapunov asymptotic stability and exponential stability. A general theory is presented which proves that Lyapunov stability is achieved for both terminal cost and constraint set and terminal equality constraint hybrid MPC, even though the considered Lyapunov function and the system dynamics may be discontinuous. For particular choices of MPC criteria and constrained Piecewise Affine (PWA) systems as the prediction models we develop novel algorithms for computing the terminal cost and the terminal constraint set. For a quadratic MPC cost, the stabilization conditions translate into a linear matrix inequality while, for an ∞-norm based MPC cost, they are obtained as ∞-norm inequalities. It is shown that by using ∞-norms, the terminal constraint set is automatically obtained as a polyhedron or a finite union of polyhedra by taking a sublevel set of the calculated terminal cost function. New algorithms are developed for calculating polyhedral or piecewise polyhedral positively invariant sets for PWA systems. In this manner, the on-line optimization problem leads to a mixed integer quadratic programming problem or to a mixed integer linear programming problem, which can be solved by standard optimization tools. Several examples illustrate the effectiveness of the developed methodology

Modelling approaches for predictive control of large-scale sewage systems

In this report, model predictive control (MPC) of large-scale sewage systems is addressed considering different modelling approaches that include several inherent continuous/discrete phenomena (overflows in sewers and tanks) and elements (weirs) in the system that result in distinct behaviour depending on the dynamic state ( flow/volume) of the network. These behaviours can not be neglected nor can be modelled by a pure linear representation. In order the MPC controller takes into account these phenomena and elements, a modelling approach based on piece-wise linear functions is proposed and compared against a hybrid modelling approach previously reported by the authors. Control performance results and associated computation times of the closed-loop scheme considering both modelling approaches are compared by using a real case study based on the Barcelona sewer network.Preprin

Approximate Explicit MPC and Closed-loop Stability: Analysis based on PWA Lyapunov Functions

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is the de facto standard in advanced industrial automation systems. There are two main formulations of the MPC algorithm: an implicit one and an explicit MPC one. The first requires an optimization problem to be solved on-line, which is the main limitation when dealing with hard real-time applications. As the implicit MPC algorithm cannot be guaran- teed in terms of execution time, in many applications the explicit MPC solution is preferable. In order to deal with systems integrating mixed logic and dynam- ics, the class of the hybrid and piecewise affine models (PWA) were introduced and tackled by the explicit MPC strategy. However, the resulting controller complexity leads to a requirement on the CPU/memory combination which is as strict as the number of states, inputs and outputs increases. To reduce drasti- cally the complexity of the explicit controller while preserving the controller’s performance, a strategy combining switched MPC with discontinuous simpli- cial PWA models is introduced in this thesis. The latter is proven to be circuit implementable, e.g., in FPGA. To ensure that closed-loop stability properties are guaranteed, a stability analysis tool is proposed which exploits suitable and possibly discontinuous PWA Lyapunov-like functions. The tool requires solving offline a linear programming problem. Moreover, the tool is able to compute an invariant set for the closed-loop system, as well as ultimate boundedness and input-to-state stability properties

Model predictive control techniques for hybrid systems

This paper describes the main issues encountered when applying model predictive control to hybrid processes. Hybrid model predictive control (HMPC) is a research field non-fully developed with many open challenges. The paper describes some of the techniques proposed by the research community to overcome the main problems encountered. Issues related to the stability and the solution of the optimization problem are also discussed. The paper ends by describing the results of a benchmark exercise in which several HMPC schemes were applied to a solar air conditioning plant.Ministerio de Eduación y Ciencia DPI2007-66718-C04-01Ministerio de Eduación y Ciencia DPI2008-0581

Approximate Dynamic Programming for Constrained Piecewise Affine Systems with Stability and Safety Guarantees

Infinite-horizon optimal control of constrained piecewise affine (PWA) systems has been approximately addressed by hybrid model predictive control (MPC), which, however, has computational limitations, both in offline design and online implementation. In this paper, we consider an alternative approach based on approximate dynamic programming (ADP), an important class of methods in reinforcement learning. We accommodate non-convex union-of-polyhedra state constraints and linear input constraints into ADP by designing PWA penalty functions. PWA function approximation is used, which allows for a mixed-integer encoding to implement ADP. The main advantage of the proposed ADP method is its online computational efficiency. Particularly, we propose two control policies, which lead to solving a smaller-scale mixed-integer linear program than conventional hybrid MPC, or a single convex quadratic program, depending on whether the policy is implicitly determined online or explicitly computed offline. We characterize the stability and safety properties of the closed-loop systems, as well as the sub-optimality of the proposed policies, by quantifying the approximation errors of value functions and policies. We also develop an offline mixed-integer linear programming-based method to certify the reliability of the proposed method. Simulation results on an inverted pendulum with elastic walls and on an adaptive cruise control problem validate the control performance in terms of constraint satisfaction and CPU time

Fast Non-Parametric Learning to Accelerate Mixed-Integer Programming for Online Hybrid Model Predictive Control

Today's fast linear algebra and numerical optimization tools have pushed the frontier of model predictive control (MPC) forward, to the efficient control of highly nonlinear and hybrid systems. The field of hybrid MPC has demonstrated that exact optimal control law can be computed, e.g., by mixed-integer programming (MIP) under piecewise-affine (PWA) system models. Despite the elegant theory, online solving hybrid MPC is still out of reach for many applications. We aim to speed up MIP by combining geometric insights from hybrid MPC, a simple-yet-effective learning algorithm, and MIP warm start techniques. Following a line of work in approximate explicit MPC, the proposed learning-control algorithm, LNMS, gains computational advantage over MIP at little cost and is straightforward for practitioners to implement

Model Predictive Control for Signal Temporal Logic Specification

We present a mathematical programming-based method for model predictive control of cyber-physical systems subject to signal temporal logic (STL) specifications. We describe the use of STL to specify a wide range of properties of these systems, including safety, response and bounded liveness. For synthesis, we encode STL specifications as mixed integer-linear constraints on the system variables in the optimization problem at each step of a receding horizon control framework. We prove correctness of our algorithms, and present experimental results for controller synthesis for building energy and climate control