Statistical Mechanics for Learning Algorithmic- Based Controllers: The Role or Physics in New Computational Models for Real-Time Control

Abstract

Major Goals: Control of physical systems problems is challenging because of: (a) problem complexity stemming from the nonlinearity, non-holonomic dynamics, and non-convex objective functions; (b) scalability stemming from the high-dimensional state space; and (c) uncertainty owing to poorly characterized dynamics, the effect of the unknown environment or even an adversary. Current control synthesis methods attempting to address these problems are hindered by the difficulty in finding analytic, closed-form solutions. Most physical systems do not admit such nice solutions. Furthermore, owing to problem complexity, controller synthesis is done off-line; not adaptable to changes in operational constraints and mission requirements. Naive computational approaches (e.g., grid-based discretizations) are plagued by the curse of dimensionality. The key question of how to control safely and reliably high-dimensional complex, uncertain systems still remains extremely challenging.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 31, 2018
Accession Number
AD1091296

Entities

People

  • Evangelos A. Theodorou
  • Panagiotis Tsiotras

Organizations

  • Georgia Tech Research Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Computational Science
  • Computer Programming
  • Control Systems
  • Control Theory
  • Differential Equations
  • Dynamic Programming
  • Equations
  • Gaussian Distributions
  • Gaussian Processes
  • Information Theory
  • Linear Systems
  • Mechanics
  • Motion Planning
  • Partial Differential Equations
  • Robotics
  • Statistical Mechanics
  • Stochastic Control
  • Stochastic Processes
  • Students

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers