Near-Optimal Controls of Discrete-Time Dynamic Systems Driven by Singularly-Perturbed Markov Chains

This work is devoted to near-optimal controls of large-scale discrete-time nonlinear dynamic systems driven by Markov chains; the underlying problem is to minimize an expected cost function. Our main goal is to reduce the complexity of the underlying systems. To achieve this goal, discrete-time control models under singularly-perturbed Markov chains are introduced. Using a relaxed control representation, our effort is devoted to finding near-optimal controls. Lumping the states in each irreducible class into a single state gives rise to a limit system. Applying near-optimal controls of the limit system to the original system, near-optimal controls of the original system are derived.     

New general guidance method in constrained optimal control,part 2: Application to space shuttle guidance

The application and the performance of the neighboring optimal feedback scheme presented in Part 1 of this paper is demonstrated for the heating-constrained cross-range maximization problem of a space-shuttle-orbiter-type vehicle. This problem contains five state variables, two control variables, and a state variable inequality constraint of order zero.This research was supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under the Schwerpunktprogramm Anwendungsbezogene Optimierung und Steuerung.The authors wish to express their sincere and grateful appreciation to Professor Roland Bulirsch who encouraged this work.     

A Note on the Indirect Controls for a Coupled System of Wave Equations

By a procedure of successive projections, the authors decompose a coupled system of wave equations into a sequence of sub-systems. Then, they can clarify the indirect controls and the total number of controls. Moreover, the authors give a uniqueness theorem of solution to the system of wave equations under Kalman’s rank condition.     

Measurement scheduling for recursive team estimation

We consider a decentralized LQG measurement scheduling problem in which every measurement is costly, no communication between observers is permitted, and the observers' estimation errors are coupled quadratically. This setup, motivated by considerations from organization theory, models measurement scheduling problems in which cost, bandwidth, or security constraints necessitate that estimates be decentralized, although their errors are coupled. We show that, unlike the centralized case, in the decentralized case the problem of optimizing the time integral of the measurement cost and the quadratic estimation error is fundamentally stochastic, and we characterize the -optimal open-loop schedules as chattering solutions of a deterministic Lagrange optimal control problem. Using a numerical example, we describe also how this deterministic optimal control problem can be solved by nonlinear programming.This research was supported in part by ARPA Grant N00174-91-C-0116 and NSF Grant NCR-92-04419.     

PERMANENCE OF GENERAL NONAUTONOMOUS SINGLE-SPECIES KOLMOGOROV TYPE SYSTEM WITH DELAY AND FEEDBACK CONTROLS

In this paper, we consider the general nonautonomous single-species Kolmogorov type system with delay and feedback controls. Sufficient conditions for the permanence of species are established. Our results generalize some known results.     

Existence of optimal controls for a class of systems governed by differential inclusions on a Banach space

Using Cesari's approach, we prove the existence of optimal controls for a class of systems governed by differential inclusions on a Banach space having the Radon-Nikodym property. Theorem 3.1 gives the existence result for optimal relaxed controls under fairly general assumptions on the system and the admissible controls. This result depends on a fundamental result (Theorem 2.1) that proves the existence of mild solutions of differential inclusions on a Banach space, which has also independent interest. Further, the preparatory results, such as Lemma 3.1 and Lemma 3.2, are also useful in the study of time-optimal and terminal control problems.For illustration of the results, we present two examples, one on distributed controls for a class of systems governed by nonlinear parabolic equations and the other on boundary controls with discontinuous boundary operator.This work is supported in part by the National Science and Engineering Council of Canada under Grant No. 7109.     

Remarks on the controllability of fractional differential equations

In this paper, we study the approximate controllability of a linear fractional differential equation by using the method of regularization of Tikhonov. New concepts and results about controllability are established. Then, under the condition of the positivity of the controllability operator, we obtain that the linear system can be steered to an arbitrary small neighbourhood of the fractional integral of the state at final time.     

基因武器威胁及杀伤模型浅析

随着基因嫁接技术的日益成熟,人类可能面临新一轮全球基因武器竞赛.科学家们就发出警告说,能够使一个种族从地球上消失的基因武器有可能在5年内变成现实,原因是阻止生物物科技武器发展"重中之重"——基因武器发展的"机会窗口"正在缩小,因此对基因武器的发展进行研究具有一定的理论和实践意义.论述了基因武器发展对我国安全的威胁以及难以控制的理由,建立了基因武器杀伤模型.     

MANAGEMENT OF A RENEWABLE RESOURCE WITH A FINITE DEMAND ELASTICITY

Optimal management policies are derived for a renewable resource when the demand for output has finite elasticity. The analysis modifies traditional views of this problem by allowing for the possibility that static optimizing policies, which maximize myopic net revenues, may be superior to “Golden Rule” policies which account for longer-run stock effects.     

Smooth and Nonsmooth Lipschitz Controls for a Class of Vector Differential Equations

This paper is devoted to the study of a class of control problems associated to a nonlinear second-order vector differential equation with pointwise state constraints. The control is realized via a function of the state. We extend the results of Akkouchi, Bounabat, and Goebel to vector differential equations and furthermore consider the more general case. Under proper conditions, we prove the existence of optimal controls in the class of Lipschitz functions and obtain an optimality condition which looks somehow like the Pontryagin maximum principle for a smooth optimal control function. For a nonsmooth optimal control function, we derive a suboptimality condition by means of the Ekeland variational principle.Communicated by M. J. BalasThis work was supported by 985 Project of Jilin University. The author thanks Professor Yong Li for valuable suggestions. He also thanks Professor M. J. Balas and the anonymous referees for their comments.