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arXiv · 1802.07903

Safety-Aware Optimal Control of Stochastic Systems Using Conditional Value-at-Risk

Samantha Samuelson·Insoon Yang
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Abstract

In this paper, we consider a multi-objective control problem for stochastic systems that seeks to minimize a cost of interest while ensuring safety. We introduce a novel measure of safety risk using the conditional value-at-risk and a set distance to formulate a safety risk-constrained optimal control problem. Our reformulation method using an extremal representation of the safety risk measure provides a computationally tractable dynamic programming solution. A useful byproduct of the proposed solution is the notion of a risk-constrained safe set, which is a new stochastic safety verification tool. We also establish useful connections between the risk-constrained safe sets and the popular probabilistic safe sets. The tradeoff between the risk tolerance and the mean performance of our controller is examined through an inventory control problem.

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Samantha Samuelson, Insoon Yang. 2018-02-22. Safety-Aware Optimal Control of Stochastic Systems Using Conditional Value-at-Risk. https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.07903

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