Nonlinear MPC design for incrementally ISS systems with application to GRU networks

This brief addresses the design of a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) strategy for exponentially incremental Input-to-State Stable (ISS) systems. In particular, a novel formulation is devised, which does not necessitate the onerous computation of terminal ingredients, but rather relies on the explicit definition of a minimum prediction horizon ensuring closed-loop stability. The designed methodology is particularly suited for the control of systems learned by Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), which are known for their enhanced modeling capabilities and for which the incremental ISS properties can be studied thanks to simple algebraic conditions. The approach is applied to Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks, providing also a method for the design of a tailored state observer with convergence guarantees. The resulting control architecture is tested on a benchmark system, demonstrating its good control performances and efficient applicability.

Deep Long-Short Term Memory networks: Stability properties and Experimental validation

The aim of this work is to investigate the use of Incrementally Input-to-State Stable ($\delta$ISS) deep Long Short Term Memory networks (LSTMs) for the identification of nonlinear dynamical systems. We show that suitable sufficient conditions on the weights of the network can be leveraged to setup a training procedure able to learn provenly-$\delta$ISS LSTM models from data. The proposed approach is tested on a real brake-by-wire apparatus to identify a model of the system from input-output experimentally collected data. Results show satisfactory modeling performances.