9,203 research outputs found
From Infinite to Finite Programs: Explicit Error Bounds with Applications to Approximate Dynamic Programming
We consider linear programming (LP) problems in infinite dimensional spaces
that are in general computationally intractable. Under suitable assumptions, we
develop an approximation bridge from the infinite-dimensional LP to tractable
finite convex programs in which the performance of the approximation is
quantified explicitly. To this end, we adopt the recent developments in two
areas of randomized optimization and first order methods, leading to a priori
as well as a posterior performance guarantees. We illustrate the generality and
implications of our theoretical results in the special case of the long-run
average cost and discounted cost optimal control problems for Markov decision
processes on Borel spaces. The applicability of the theoretical results is
demonstrated through a constrained linear quadratic optimal control problem and
a fisheries management problem.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figure
From Uncertainty Data to Robust Policies for Temporal Logic Planning
We consider the problem of synthesizing robust disturbance feedback policies
for systems performing complex tasks. We formulate the tasks as linear temporal
logic specifications and encode them into an optimization framework via
mixed-integer constraints. Both the system dynamics and the specifications are
known but affected by uncertainty. The distribution of the uncertainty is
unknown, however realizations can be obtained. We introduce a data-driven
approach where the constraints are fulfilled for a set of realizations and
provide probabilistic generalization guarantees as a function of the number of
considered realizations. We use separate chance constraints for the
satisfaction of the specification and operational constraints. This allows us
to quantify their violation probabilities independently. We compute disturbance
feedback policies as solutions of mixed-integer linear or quadratic
optimization problems. By using feedback we can exploit information of past
realizations and provide feasibility for a wider range of situations compared
to static input sequences. We demonstrate the proposed method on two robust
motion-planning case studies for autonomous driving
A scenario approach for non-convex control design
Randomized optimization is an established tool for control design with
modulated robustness. While for uncertain convex programs there exist
randomized approaches with efficient sampling, this is not the case for
non-convex problems. Approaches based on statistical learning theory are
applicable to non-convex problems, but they usually are conservative in terms
of performance and require high sample complexity to achieve the desired
probabilistic guarantees. In this paper, we derive a novel scenario approach
for a wide class of random non-convex programs, with a sample complexity
similar to that of uncertain convex programs and with probabilistic guarantees
that hold not only for the optimal solution of the scenario program, but for
all feasible solutions inside a set of a-priori chosen complexity. We also
address measure-theoretic issues for uncertain convex and non-convex programs.
Among the family of non-convex control- design problems that can be addressed
via randomization, we apply our scenario approach to randomized Model
Predictive Control for chance-constrained nonlinear control-affine systems.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Automatic Contro
On the Sample Size of Random Convex Programs with Structured Dependence on the Uncertainty (Extended Version)
The "scenario approach" provides an intuitive method to address chance
constrained problems arising in control design for uncertain systems. It
addresses these problems by replacing the chance constraint with a finite
number of sampled constraints (scenarios). The sample size critically depends
on Helly's dimension, a quantity always upper bounded by the number of decision
variables. However, this standard bound can lead to computationally expensive
programs whose solutions are conservative in terms of cost and violation
probability. We derive improved bounds of Helly's dimension for problems where
the chance constraint has certain structural properties. The improved bounds
lower the number of scenarios required for these problems, leading both to
improved objective value and reduced computational complexity. Our results are
generally applicable to Randomized Model Predictive Control of chance
constrained linear systems with additive uncertainty and affine disturbance
feedback. The efficacy of the proposed bound is demonstrated on an inventory
management example.Comment: Accepted for publication at Automatic
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