Related papers: A Primer on Zeroth-Order Optimization in Signal Pr…

We consider escaping saddle points of nonconvex problems where only the function evaluations can be accessed. Although a variety of works have been proposed, the majority of them require either second or first-order information, and only a…

Incentive-based load curtailment unlocks critical demand-side flexibility but is hindered by the limited knowledge of private user parameters and the inherent nonsmoothness of responses due to physical device constraints. We address this…

Federated learning (FL) is a popular machine learning technique that enables multiple users to collaboratively train a model while maintaining the user data privacy. A significant challenge in FL is the communication bottleneck in the…

This paper considers zeroth-order optimization for stochastic convex minimization problem. We propose a parameter-free stochastic zeroth-order method (POEM) by introducing a step-size scheme based on the distance over finite difference and…

Bayesian optimization (BO) developed as an approach for the efficient optimization of expensive black-box functions without gradient information. A typical BO paper introduces a new approach and compares it to some alternatives on simulated…

Zeroth-order optimization aims to minimize an objective function using only function evaluations, and is therefore fundamental in black-box optimization, hyperparameter tuning, bandit learning, and adversarial machine learning. While…

Feedback optimization has emerged as a promising approach for optimizing the steady-state operation of dynamical systems while requiring minimal modeling efforts. Unfortunately, most existing feedback optimization methods rely on knowledge…

Robust and stochastic optimal control problem (OCP) formulations allow a systematic treatment of uncertainty, but are typically associated with a high computational cost. The recently proposed zero-order robust optimization (zoRO) algorithm…

We propose Zeroth-Order Random Matrix Search for Learning from Demonstrations (ZORMS-LfD). ZORMS-LfD enables the costs, constraints, and dynamics of constrained optimal control problems, in both continuous and discrete time, to be learned…

Zeroing neural networks (ZNNs) have demonstrated outstanding performance on time-varying optimization and control problems. Nonetheless, few studies are committed to illustrating the relationship among different ZNNs and the derivation of…

Simulation Optimization (SO) refers to the optimization of an objective function subject to constraints, both of which can be evaluated through a stochastic simulation. To address specific features of a particular simulation---discrete or…

This paper concerns a convex, stochastic zeroth-order optimization (S-ZOO) problem. The objective is to minimize the expectation of a cost function whose gradient is not directly accessible. For this problem, traditional optimization…

Recently, bi-level optimization (BLO) has taken center stage in some very exciting developments in the area of signal processing (SP) and machine learning (ML). Roughly speaking, BLO is a classical optimization problem that involves two…

Trilevel learning (TLL) found diverse applications in numerous machine learning applications, ranging from robust hyperparameter optimization to domain adaptation. However, existing researches primarily focus on scenarios where TLL can be…

Bayesian optimization (BO) is a widely-used sequential method for zeroth-order optimization of complex and expensive-to-compute black-box functions. The existing BO methods assume that the function evaluation (feedback) is available to the…

Decentralized solutions to finite-sum minimization are of significant importance in many signal processing, control, and machine learning applications. In such settings, the data is distributed over a network of arbitrarily-connected nodes…

We consider the problem of optimizing a high-dimensional convex function using stochastic zeroth-order queries. Under sparsity assumptions on the gradients or function values, we present two algorithms: a successive component/feature…

Topology optimization (TO) is a method of deriving an optimal design that satisfies a given load and boundary conditions within a design domain. This method enables effective design without initial design, but has been limited in use due to…

First-order methods for solving convex optimization problems have been at the forefront of mathematical optimization in the last 20 years. The rapid development of this important class of algorithms is motivated by the success stories…

This letter studies distributed stochastic optimization over a peer-to-peer network when agents can query only zeroth-order function values. We propose ZOOM-PB, a coordinate-sampling distributed zeroth-order method equipped with a…