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Building operations consume approximately 40% of global energy, with Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems responsible for up to 50% of this consumption. As HVAC energy demands are expected to rise, optimising system…
Model-based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) is a promising framework for learning control in a data-efficient manner. MBRL algorithms can be fairly complex due to the separate dynamics modeling and the subsequent planning algorithm, and as a…
In recent years, meta-reinforcement learning (meta-RL) algorithm has been proposed to improve sample efficiency in the field of decision-making and control, enabling agents to learn new knowledge from a small number of samples. However,…
We consider the problem of optimal control of district cooling energy plants (DCEPs) consisting of multiple chillers, a cooling tower, and a thermal energy storage (TES), in the presence of time-varying electricity price. A straightforward…
Greenhouse environment is the key to influence crops production. However, it is difficult for classical control methods to give precise environment setpoints, such as temperature, humidity, light intensity and carbon dioxide concentration…
In machine learning, meta-learning methods aim for fast adaptability to unknown tasks using prior knowledge. Model-based meta-reinforcement learning combines reinforcement learning via world models with Meta Reinforcement Learning (MRL) for…
This paper deals with the problem of cost-optimal operation of smart buildings that integrate a centralized HVAC system, photovoltaic generation and both thermal and electrical storage devices. Building participation in a Demand-Response…
Developing personalised thermal comfort models to inform occupant-centric controls (OCC) in buildings requires collecting large amounts of real-time occupant preference data. This process can be highly intrusive and labour-intensive for…
An autonomous adaptive MPC architecture is presented for control of heating, ventilation and air condition (HVAC) systems to maintain indoor temperature while reducing energy use. Although equipment use and occupant changes with time,…
The building sector consumes the largest energy in the world, and there have been considerable research interests in energy consumption and comfort management of buildings. Inspired by recent advances in reinforcement learning (RL), this…
Model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) is believed to have much higher sample efficiency compared to model-free algorithms by learning a predictive model of the environment. However, the performance of MBRL highly relies on the quality…
This research is concerned with the novel application and investigation of `Soft Actor Critic' (SAC) based Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to control the cooling setpoint (and hence cooling loads) of a large commercial building to harness…
Reinforcement Learning (RL) controllers have generated excitement within the control community. The primary advantage of RL controllers relative to existing methods is their ability to optimize uncertain systems independently of explicit…
The rising demand for electricity and its essential nature in today's world calls for intelligent home energy management (HEM) systems that can reduce energy usage. This involves scheduling of loads from peak hours of the day when energy…
The development of current building energy system operation has benefited from: 1. Informational support from the optimal design through simulation or first-principles models; 2. System load and energy prediction through machine learning…
As opposed to conventional training methods tailored to minimize a given statistical metric or task-agnostic loss (e.g., mean squared error), Decision-Focused Learning (DFL) trains machine learning models for optimal performance in…
Demand flexibility is increasingly important for power grids, in light of growing penetration of renewable generation. Careful coordination of thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs) can potentially modulate energy demand, decrease…
In this paper, we develop a grid-interactive multi-zone building controller based on a deep reinforcement learning (RL) approach. The controller is designed to facilitate building operation during normal conditions and demand response…
The successful operation of mobile robots requires them to adapt rapidly to environmental changes. To develop an adaptive decision-making tool for mobile robots, we propose a novel algorithm that combines meta-reinforcement learning…
To optimize the operation of a HVAC system with advanced techniques such as artificial neural network, previous studies usually need forecast information in their method. However, the forecast information inevitably contains errors all the…