On the Difficulty of Deciding Asymptotic Stability of Cubic Homogeneous Vector Fields

It is well-known that asymptotic stability (AS) of homogeneous polynomial vector fields of degree one (i.e., linear systems) can be decided in polynomial time e.g. by searching for a quadratic Lyapunov function. Since homogeneous vector fields of even degree can never be AS, the next interesting degree to consider is equal to three. In this … Read more

TACO – A Toolkit for AMPL Control Optimization

We describe a set of extensions to the AMPL modeling language to conveniently model mixed-integer optimal control problems for ODE or DAE dynamic processes. These extensions are realized as AMPL user functions and suffixes and do not require intrusive changes to the AMPL language standard or implementation itself. We describe and provide TACO, a Toolkit … Read more

Efficient Direct Multiple Shooting for Nonlinear Model Predictive Control on Long Horizons

We address direct multiple shooting based algorithms for nonlinear model predictive control, with a focus on problems with long prediction horizons. We describe different efficient multiple shooting variants with a computational effort that is only linear in the horizon length. Proposed techniques comprise structure exploiting linear algebra on the one hand, and approximation of derivative … Read more

Sampling Decisions in Optimum Experimental Design in the Light of Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle

Optimum Experimental Design (OED) problems are optimization problems in which an experimental setting and decisions on when to measure – the so-called sampling design – are to be determined such that a follow-up parameter estimation yields accurate results for model parameters. In this paper we use the interpretation of OED as optimal control problems with … Read more

A Continuous Dynamical Newton-Like Approach to Solving Monotone Inclusions

We introduce non-autonomous continuous dynamical systems which are linked to Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt methods. They aim at solving inclusions governed by maximal monotone operators in Hilbert spaces. Relying on Minty representation of maximal monotone operators as lipschitzian manifolds, we show that these dynamics can be formulated as first-order in time differential systems, which are relevant … Read more

NONSMOOTH OPTIMIZATION OVER THE (WEAKLY OR PROPERLY) PARETO SET OF A LINEAR-QUADRATIC MULTI-OBJECTIVE CONTROL PROBLEM : EXPLICIT OPTIMALITY CONDITIONS

We present explicit optimality conditions for a nonsmooth functional defined over the (properly or weakly) Pareto set associated to a multiobjective linear-quadratic control problem. This problem is very difficult even in a finite dimensional setting, i.e. when, instead of a control problem, we deal with a mathematical programming problem. Amongst different applications, our problem may … Read more

Nonsmooth Lyapunov pairs for infinite-dimensional first-order differential inclusions

The main objective of this paper is to provide new explicit criteria to characterize weak lower semi-continuous Lyapunov pairs or functions associated to first-order differential inclusions in Hilbert spaces. These inclusions are governed by a Lipschitzian perturbation of a maximally monotone operator. The dual criteria we give are expressed by the means of the proximal … Read more

Convergence and Descent Properties for a Class of Multilevel Optimization Algorithms

I present a multilevel optimization approach (termed MG/Opt) for the solution of constrained optimization problems. The approach assumes that one has a hierarchy of models, ordered from fine to coarse, of an underlying optimization problem, and that one is interested in finding solutions at the finest level of detail. In this hierarchy of models calculations … Read more

Lipschitz solutions of optimal control problems with state constraints of arbitrary order

In this paper we generalize to an arbitrary order, under minimal hypotheses, some sufficient conditions for Lipschitz continuity of the solution of a state constrained optimal control problems. The proof combines the approach by Hager in 1979 for dealing with first-order state constraints, and the high-order alternative formulation of the optimality conditions. Citation Published as … Read more

A Collection of 1,300 Dynamical Systems for Testing Data Fitting, Optimal Control, Experimental Design, Identification, Simulation or Similar Software – User’s Guide

We describe a collection of test problems which have been used to develop and test data fitting software for identifying parameters in explicit model functions, dynamical systems of equations, Laplace transformations, systems of ordinary differential equations, differential algebraic equations, or systems of one-dimensional time-dependent partial differential equations with or without algebraic equations. The test cases … Read more