NeurIPS · 2024

Disentangling Linear Quadratic Control with Untrusted ML Predictions

Tongxin Li, Hao Liu, Yisong Yue

Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems

Can a controller learn which components of a forecast to trust?

DISC learns confidence in predictions of latent disturbance components. Competitive analysis covers linear and more general mixing functions, showing how online confidence adaptation can exploit accurate forecasts while maintaining protection against large errors.

Research themes

Connections

From prediction error to control performance

Trust adaptation in linear quadratic control and perturbation bounds for MPC connect the quality of a forecast to the cost of acting on it. Nonlinear certification adds stability to this picture.

Open questions

Prediction quality as a decision resource

Which prediction errors actually matter for the decision being made?

Explore open directions

Cite this paper

Tongxin Li, Hao Liu, Yisong Yue. Disentangling Linear Quadratic Control with Untrusted ML Predictions. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 2024. https://papers.nips.cc/paper_files/paper/2024/hash/9dff3b83d463fab213941bfee23341ba-Abstract-Conference.html

BibTeX
@inproceedings{tongxin-disc,
  title = {{Disentangling Linear Quadratic Control with Untrusted ML Predictions}},
  author = {Tongxin Li and Hao Liu and Yisong Yue},
  year = {2024},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems},
  url = {https://papers.nips.cc/paper\_files/paper/2024/hash/9dff3b83d463fab213941bfee23341ba-Abstract-Conference.html}
}
2023IEEE Open Journal of Control Systems

Certifying Black-Box Policies With Stability for Nonlinear Control

Tongxin Li, Ruixiao Yang, Guannan Qu, Yiheng Lin, Adam Wierman, Steven H. Low

Simply blending two stabilizing policies can cause instability. An adaptive confidence policy instead uses approximate model information to certify stability, with competitive guarantees under bounded nonlinearity and evaluations on Cart Pole and charging under distribution shift.

How can model based advice stabilize a learned nonlinear policy? model predictive control MPC stability recursive feasibility distributed control system level synthesis learning augmented algorithms algorithms with predictions competitive analysis robustness consistency online optimization AI for energy electric vehicle charging demand response renewable energy load forecasting decarbonization
2022NeurIPS

Bounded-Regret MPC via Perturbation Analysis: Prediction Error, Constraints, and Nonlinearity

Yiheng Lin, Yang Hu, Guannan Qu, Tongxin Li, Adam Wierman

A general analysis pipeline converts perturbation bounds for finite horizon control into dynamic regret bounds for MPC. It handles prediction errors in costs, dynamics, and disturbances, and extends the analysis to constrained and nonlinear settings under suitable regularity conditions.

How do forecast errors translate into regret for MPC? model predictive control MPC stability recursive feasibility distributed control system level synthesis learning augmented algorithms algorithms with predictions competitive analysis robustness consistency online optimization
2022POMACS

Robustness and Consistency in Linear Quadratic Control with Untrusted Predictions

Tongxin Li, Ruixiao Yang, Guannan Qu, Guanya Shi, Chenkai Yu, Adam Wierman, Steven Low

A confidence parameter governs how much a linear quadratic controller trusts disturbance predictions. Competitive bounds describe the tradeoff between accurate and inaccurate advice, and a self tuning policy adapts confidence online using observed prediction quality.

Can predictive control balance consistency and robustness automatically? learning augmented algorithms algorithms with predictions competitive analysis robustness consistency online optimization model predictive control MPC stability recursive feasibility distributed control system level synthesis