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Markov control algorithms that perform smooth, non-greedy updates of the policy have been shown to be very general and versatile, with policy gradient and Expectation Maximisation algorithms being particularly popular. For these algorithms,…
We consider the problem of tracking a target whose dynamics is modeled by a continuous It\=o semi-martingale. The aim is to minimize both deviation from the target and tracking efforts. We establish the existence of asymptotic lower bounds…
We study discrete-time finite-horizon optimal control problems in probability spaces, whereby the state of the system is a probability measure. We show that, in many instances, the solution of dynamic programming in probability spaces…
In this paper, we consider a class of continuous-time, continuous-space stochastic optimal control problems. Building upon recent advances in Markov chain approximation methods and sampling-based algorithms for deterministic path planning,…
In this paper, we consider the application of optimal periodic control sequences to switched dynamical systems. The control sequence is obtained using a finite-horizon optimal method based on dynamic programming. We then consider Euler…
This paper proposes a new sampling-based nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) algorithm, with a bound on complexity quadratic in the prediction horizon N and linear in the number of samples. The idea of the proposed algorithm is to use…
We consider a stochastic linear system and address the design of a finite horizon control policy that is optimal according to some average cost criterion and accounts also for probabilistic constraints on both the input and state variables.…
This work discusses the finite element discretization of an optimal control problem for the linear wave equation with time-dependent controls of bounded variation. The main focus lies on the convergence analysis of the discretization…
We consider an infinite horizon optimal control problem for a pure jump Markov process $X$, taking values in a complete and separable metric space $I$, with noise-free partial observation. The observation process is defined as $Y_t =…
We address a general optimal switching problem over finite horizon for a stochastic system described by a differential equation driven by Brownian motion. The main novelty is the fact that we allow for infinitely many modes (or regimes,…
We consider a pointwise tracking optimal control problem for a semilinear elliptic partial differential equation. We derive the existence of optimal solutions and analyze first and, necessary and sufficient, second order optimality…
We study the problem of co-designing control barrier functions and linear state feedback controllers for discrete-time linear systems affected by additive disturbances. For disturbances of bounded magnitude, we provide a semi-definite…
Uncertain partially observable Markov decision processes (uPOMDPs) allow the probabilistic transition and observation functions of standard POMDPs to belong to a so-called uncertainty set. Such uncertainty, referred to as epistemic…
Constrained partially observable Markov decision processes (CPOMDPs) have been used to model various real-world phenomena. However, they are notoriously difficult to solve to optimality, and there exist only a few approximation methods for…
We consider a class of optimal control problems, with finite or infinite horizon, for a continuous-time Markov chain with finite state space. In this case, the control process affects the transition rates. We suppose that the controlled…
In this work, we study discrete-time Markov decision processes (MDPs) under constraints with Borel state and action spaces and where all the performance functions have the same form of the expected total reward (ETR) criterion over the…
We study optimal control of Markov processes with age-dependent transition rates. The control policy is chosen continuously over time based on the state of the process and its age. We study infinite horizon discounted cost and infinite…
We study an explicit mirror-descent method for finite-horizon deterministic optimal control problems. The method is motivated by Pontryagin's maximum principle: at each iteration, one solves the state and adjoint equations and updates the…
We study the problem of finite-time constrained optimal control of unknown stochastic linear time-invariant systems, which is the key ingredient of a predictive control algorithm -- albeit typically having access to a model. We propose a…
We provide an overview on how to use the measurable selection techniques to derive the dynamic programming principle for a general stochastic optimal control/stopping problem. By considering its martingale problem formulation on the…