Ergodic-Risk Constrained Policy Optimization: The Linear Quadratic Case

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Talebi, Shahriar, Li, Na
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Talebi, Shahriar
Li, Na
author_facet Talebi, Shahriar
Li, Na
contents Risk-sensitive control balances performance with resilience to unlikely events in uncertain systems. This paper introduces ergodic-risk criteria, which capture long-term cumulative risks through probabilistic limit theorems. By ensuring the dynamics exhibit strong ergodicity, we demonstrate that the time-correlated terms in these limiting criteria converge even with potentially heavy-tailed process noises as long as the noise has a finite fourth moment. Building upon this, we proposed the ergodic-risk constrained policy optimization which incorporates an ergodic-risk constraint to the classical Linear Quadratic Regulation (LQR) framework. We then propose a primal-dual policy optimization method that optimizes the average performance while satisfying the ergodic-risk constraints. Numerical results demonstrate that the new risk-constrained LQR not only optimizes average performance but also limits the asymptotic variance associated with the ergodic-risk criterion, making the closed-loop system more robust against sporadic large fluctuations in process noise.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_05878
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ergodic-Risk Constrained Policy Optimization: The Linear Quadratic Case
Talebi, Shahriar
Li, Na
Optimization and Control
Systems and Control
Risk-sensitive control balances performance with resilience to unlikely events in uncertain systems. This paper introduces ergodic-risk criteria, which capture long-term cumulative risks through probabilistic limit theorems. By ensuring the dynamics exhibit strong ergodicity, we demonstrate that the time-correlated terms in these limiting criteria converge even with potentially heavy-tailed process noises as long as the noise has a finite fourth moment. Building upon this, we proposed the ergodic-risk constrained policy optimization which incorporates an ergodic-risk constraint to the classical Linear Quadratic Regulation (LQR) framework. We then propose a primal-dual policy optimization method that optimizes the average performance while satisfying the ergodic-risk constraints. Numerical results demonstrate that the new risk-constrained LQR not only optimizes average performance but also limits the asymptotic variance associated with the ergodic-risk criterion, making the closed-loop system more robust against sporadic large fluctuations in process noise.
title Ergodic-Risk Constrained Policy Optimization: The Linear Quadratic Case
topic Optimization and Control
Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05878