Distributed large scale systems : a multi-agent RL-MPC architecture

This thesis describes a methodology to deal with the interaction between MPC controllers in a distributed MPC architecture. This approach combines ideas from Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) in order to provide a controller interaction based on cooperative ag...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Javalera Rincón, Valeria
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/96332
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/96332
https://dx.doi.org/10.5821/dissertation-2117-96332
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Control automàtic
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica
Descripción
Sumario:This thesis describes a methodology to deal with the interaction between MPC controllers in a distributed MPC architecture. This approach combines ideas from Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) in order to provide a controller interaction based on cooperative agents and learning techniques. The aim of this methodology is to provide a general structure to perform optimal control in networked distributed environments, where multiple dependencies between subsystems are found. Those dependencies or connections often correspond to control variables. In that case, the distributed control has to be consistent in both subsystems. One of the main new concepts of this architecture is the negotiator agent. Negotiator agents interact with MPC agents to determine the optimal value of the shared control variables in a cooperative way using learning techniques (RL). The optimal value of those shared control variables has to accomplish a common goal, probably different from the specific goal of each agent sharing the variable. Two cases of study, in which the proposed architecture is applied and tested are considered, a small water distribution network and the Barcelona water network. The results suggest this approach is a promising strategy when centralized control is not a reasonable choice.