Iman Askari - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Iman Askari
2022 American Control Conference (ACC)
Control of machine learning models has emerged as an important paradigm for a broad range of robo... more Control of machine learning models has emerged as an important paradigm for a broad range of robotics applications. In this paper, we present a sampling-based nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach for control of neural network dynamics. We show its design in two parts: 1) formulating conventional optimization-based NMPC as a Bayesian state estimation problem, and 2) using particle filtering/smoothing to achieve the estimation. Through a principled sampling-based implementation, this approach can potentially make effective searches in the control action space for optimal control and also facilitate computation toward overcoming the challenges caused by neural network dynamics. We apply the proposed NMPC approach to motion planning for autonomous vehicles. The specific problem considers nonlinear unknown vehicle dynamics modeled as neural networks as well as dynamic on-road driving scenarios. The approach shows significant effectiveness in successful motion planning in case studies.
Automatica
The implicit particle filter seeks to mitigate particle degeneracy by identifying particles in th... more The implicit particle filter seeks to mitigate particle degeneracy by identifying particles in the target distribution's highprobability regions. This study is motivated by the need to enhance computational tractability in implementing this approach. We investigate the connection of the particle update step in the implicit particle filter with that of the Kalman filter and then formulate a novel realization of the implicit particle filter based on a bank of nonlinear Kalman filters. This realization is more amenable and efficient computationally.
2021 American Control Conference (ACC)
Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has gained widespread use in many applications. Its for... more Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has gained widespread use in many applications. Its formulation traditionally involves repetitively solving a nonlinear constrained optimization problem online. In this paper, we investigate NMPC through the lens of Bayesian estimation and highlight that the Monte Carlo sampling method can offer a favorable way to implement NMPC. We develop a constraint-aware particle filtering/smoothing method and exploit it to implement NMPC. The new sampling-based NMPC algorithm can be executed easily and efficiently even for complex nonlinear systems, while potentially mitigating the issues of computational complexity and local minima faced by numerical optimization in conventional studies. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated through a simulation study.
2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Control of nonlinear uncertain systems is a common challenge in the robotics field. Nonlinear lat... more Control of nonlinear uncertain systems is a common challenge in the robotics field. Nonlinear latent force models, which incorporate latent uncertainty characterized as Gaussian processes, carry the promise of representing such systems effectively, and we focus on the control design for them in this work. To enable the design, we adopt the state-space representation of a Gaussian process to recast the nonlinear latent force model and thus build the ability to predict the future state and uncertainty concurrently. Using this feature, a stochastic model predictive control problem is formulated. To derive a computational algorithm for the problem, we use the scenario-based approach to formulate a deterministic approximation of the stochastic optimization. We evaluate the resultant scenario-based model predictive control approach through a simulation study based on motion planning of an autonomous vehicle, which shows much effectiveness. The proposed approach can find prospective use in various other robotics applications.
2022 American Control Conference (ACC)
Control of machine learning models has emerged as an important paradigm for a broad range of robo... more Control of machine learning models has emerged as an important paradigm for a broad range of robotics applications. In this paper, we present a sampling-based nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach for control of neural network dynamics. We show its design in two parts: 1) formulating conventional optimization-based NMPC as a Bayesian state estimation problem, and 2) using particle filtering/smoothing to achieve the estimation. Through a principled sampling-based implementation, this approach can potentially make effective searches in the control action space for optimal control and also facilitate computation toward overcoming the challenges caused by neural network dynamics. We apply the proposed NMPC approach to motion planning for autonomous vehicles. The specific problem considers nonlinear unknown vehicle dynamics modeled as neural networks as well as dynamic on-road driving scenarios. The approach shows significant effectiveness in successful motion planning in case studies.
Automatica
The implicit particle filter seeks to mitigate particle degeneracy by identifying particles in th... more The implicit particle filter seeks to mitigate particle degeneracy by identifying particles in the target distribution's highprobability regions. This study is motivated by the need to enhance computational tractability in implementing this approach. We investigate the connection of the particle update step in the implicit particle filter with that of the Kalman filter and then formulate a novel realization of the implicit particle filter based on a bank of nonlinear Kalman filters. This realization is more amenable and efficient computationally.
2021 American Control Conference (ACC)
Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has gained widespread use in many applications. Its for... more Nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) has gained widespread use in many applications. Its formulation traditionally involves repetitively solving a nonlinear constrained optimization problem online. In this paper, we investigate NMPC through the lens of Bayesian estimation and highlight that the Monte Carlo sampling method can offer a favorable way to implement NMPC. We develop a constraint-aware particle filtering/smoothing method and exploit it to implement NMPC. The new sampling-based NMPC algorithm can be executed easily and efficiently even for complex nonlinear systems, while potentially mitigating the issues of computational complexity and local minima faced by numerical optimization in conventional studies. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is evaluated through a simulation study.
2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)
Control of nonlinear uncertain systems is a common challenge in the robotics field. Nonlinear lat... more Control of nonlinear uncertain systems is a common challenge in the robotics field. Nonlinear latent force models, which incorporate latent uncertainty characterized as Gaussian processes, carry the promise of representing such systems effectively, and we focus on the control design for them in this work. To enable the design, we adopt the state-space representation of a Gaussian process to recast the nonlinear latent force model and thus build the ability to predict the future state and uncertainty concurrently. Using this feature, a stochastic model predictive control problem is formulated. To derive a computational algorithm for the problem, we use the scenario-based approach to formulate a deterministic approximation of the stochastic optimization. We evaluate the resultant scenario-based model predictive control approach through a simulation study based on motion planning of an autonomous vehicle, which shows much effectiveness. The proposed approach can find prospective use in various other robotics applications.