Block Factor-width-two Matrices and Their Applications to Semidefinite and Sum-of-squares Optimization

Semidefinite and sum-of-squares (SOS) optimization are fundamental computational tools in many areas, including linear and nonlinear systems theory. However, the scale of problems that can be addressed reliably and efficiently is still limited. In this paper, we introduce a new notion of \emph{block factor-width-two matrices} and build a new hierarchy of inner and outer approximations of the cone of positive semidefinite (PSD) matrices. This notion is a block extension of the standard factor-width-two matrices, and allows for an improved inner-approximation of the PSD cone. In the context of SOS optimization, this leads to a block extension of the \emph{scaled diagonally dominant sum-of-squares (SDSOS)} polynomials. By varying a matrix partition, the notion of block factor-width-two matrices can balance a trade-off between the computation scalability and solution quality for solving semidefinite and SOS optimization. Numerical experiments on large-scale instances confirm our theoretical findings.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures. Added a new section on the approximation quality analysis using block factor-width-two matrices. Code is available through https://github.com/zhengy09/SDPf

Conic Optimization Theory: Convexification Techniques and Numerical Algorithms

Optimization is at the core of control theory and appears in several areas of this field, such as optimal control, distributed control, system identification, robust control, state estimation, model predictive control and dynamic programming. The recent advances in various topics of modern optimization have also been revamping the area of machine learning. Motivated by the crucial role of optimization theory in the design, analysis, control and operation of real-world systems, this tutorial paper offers a detailed overview of some major advances in this area, namely conic optimization and its emerging applications. First, we discuss the importance of conic optimization in different areas. Then, we explain seminal results on the design of hierarchies of convex relaxations for a wide range of nonconvex problems. Finally, we study different numerical algorithms for large-scale conic optimization problems.Comment: 18 page

Distributed Robustness Analysis of Interconnected Uncertain Systems Using Chordal Decomposition

Large-scale interconnected uncertain systems commonly have large state and uncertainty dimensions. Aside from the heavy computational cost of solving centralized robust stability analysis techniques, privacy requirements in the network can also introduce further issues. In this paper, we utilize IQC analysis for analyzing large-scale interconnected uncertain systems and we evade these issues by describing a decomposition scheme that is based on the interconnection structure of the system. This scheme is based on the so-called chordal decomposition and does not add any conservativeness to the analysis approach. The decomposed problem can be solved using distributed computational algorithms without the need for a centralized computational unit. We further discuss the merits of the proposed analysis approach using a numerical experiment.Comment: 3 figures. Submitted to the 19th IFAC world congres