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Main Authors: Alaoui, Sadek Belamfedel, Saoud, Adnane
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.01548
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author Alaoui, Sadek Belamfedel
Saoud, Adnane
author_facet Alaoui, Sadek Belamfedel
Saoud, Adnane
contents Q-learning is widely recognized as an effective approach for synthesizing controllers to achieve specific goals. However, handling challenges posed by continuous state-action spaces remains an ongoing research focus. This paper presents a systematic analysis that highlights a major drawback in space discretization methods. To address this challenge, the paper proposes a symbolic model that represents behavioral relations, such as alternating simulation from abstraction to the controlled system. This relation allows for seamless application of the synthesized controller based on abstraction to the original system. Introducing a novel Q-learning technique for symbolic models, the algorithm yields two Q-tables encoding optimal policies. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that these Q-tables serve as both upper and lower bounds on the Q-values of the original system with continuous spaces. Additionally, the paper explores the correlation between the parameters of the space abstraction and the loss in Q-values. The resulting algorithm facilitates achieving optimality within an arbitrary accuracy, providing control over the trade-off between accuracy and computational complexity. The obtained results provide valuable insights for selecting appropriate learning parameters and refining the controller. The engineering relevance of the proposed Q-learning based symbolic model is illustrated through two case studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_01548
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How to discretize continuous state-action spaces in Q-learning: A symbolic control approach
Alaoui, Sadek Belamfedel
Saoud, Adnane
Systems and Control
Artificial Intelligence
Dynamical Systems
Q-learning is widely recognized as an effective approach for synthesizing controllers to achieve specific goals. However, handling challenges posed by continuous state-action spaces remains an ongoing research focus. This paper presents a systematic analysis that highlights a major drawback in space discretization methods. To address this challenge, the paper proposes a symbolic model that represents behavioral relations, such as alternating simulation from abstraction to the controlled system. This relation allows for seamless application of the synthesized controller based on abstraction to the original system. Introducing a novel Q-learning technique for symbolic models, the algorithm yields two Q-tables encoding optimal policies. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that these Q-tables serve as both upper and lower bounds on the Q-values of the original system with continuous spaces. Additionally, the paper explores the correlation between the parameters of the space abstraction and the loss in Q-values. The resulting algorithm facilitates achieving optimality within an arbitrary accuracy, providing control over the trade-off between accuracy and computational complexity. The obtained results provide valuable insights for selecting appropriate learning parameters and refining the controller. The engineering relevance of the proposed Q-learning based symbolic model is illustrated through two case studies.
title How to discretize continuous state-action spaces in Q-learning: A symbolic control approach
topic Systems and Control
Artificial Intelligence
Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.01548