Deep Reinforcement Learning for Event-Triggered Control

Event-triggered control (ETC) methods can achieve high-performance control with a significantly lower number of samples compared to usual, time-triggered methods. These frameworks are often based on a mathematical model of the system and specific designs of controller and event trigger. In this paper, we show how deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms can be leveraged to simultaneously learn control and communication behavior from scratch, and present a DRL approach that is particularly suitable for ETC. To our knowledge, this is the first work to apply DRL to ETC. We validate the approach on multiple control tasks and compare it to model-based event-triggering frameworks. In particular, we demonstrate that it can, other than many model-based ETC designs, be straightforwardly applied to nonlinear systems

Adaptive Control By Regulation-Triggered Batch Least-Squares Estimation of Non-Observable Parameters

The paper extends a recently proposed indirect, certainty-equivalence, event-triggered adaptive control scheme to the case of non-observable parameters. The extension is achieved by using a novel Batch Least-Squares Identifier (BaLSI), which is activated at the times of the events. The BaLSI guarantees the finite-time asymptotic constancy of the parameter estimates and the fact that the trajectories of the closed-loop system follow the trajectories of the nominal closed-loop system ("nominal" in the sense of the asymptotic parameter estimate, not in the sense of the true unknown parameter). Thus, if the nominal feedback guarantees global asymptotic stability and local exponential stability, then unlike conventional adaptive control, the newly proposed event-triggered adaptive scheme guarantees global asymptotic regulation with a uniform exponential convergence rate. The developed adaptive scheme is tested to a well-known control problem: the state regulation of the wing-rock model. Comparisons with other adaptive schemes are provided for this particular problem.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figure

Event-triggered Learning

The efficient exchange of information is an essential aspect of intelligent collective behavior. Event-triggered control and estimation achieve some efficiency by replacing continuous data exchange between agents with intermittent, or event-triggered communication. Typically, model-based predictions are used at times of no data transmission, and updates are sent only when the prediction error grows too large. The effectiveness in reducing communication thus strongly depends on the quality of the prediction model. In this article, we propose event-triggered learning as a novel concept to reduce communication even further and to also adapt to changing dynamics. By monitoring the actual communication rate and comparing it to the one that is induced by the model, we detect a mismatch between model and reality and trigger model learning when needed. Specifically, for linear Gaussian dynamics, we derive different classes of learning triggers solely based on a statistical analysis of inter-communication times and formally prove their effectiveness with the aid of concentration inequalities

Co-design of output feedback laws and event-triggering conditions for linear systems

We present a procedure to simultaneously design the output feedback law and the event-triggering condition to stabilize linear systems. The closed-loop system is shown to satisfy a global asymptotic stability property and the existence of a strictly positive minimum amount of time between two transmissions is guaranteed. The event-triggered controller is obtained by solving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). We then exploit the flexibility of the method to maximize the guaranteed minimum amount of time between two transmissions. Finally, we provide a (heuristic) method to reduce the amount of transmissions, which is supported by numerical simulations