Model-free Online Learning for the Kalman Filter: Forgetting Factor and Logarithmic Regret

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Qian, Jiachen, Zheng, Yang
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Qian, Jiachen
Zheng, Yang
author_facet Qian, Jiachen
Zheng, Yang
contents We consider the problem of online prediction for an unknown, non-explosive linear stochastic system. With a known system model, the optimal predictor is the celebrated Kalman filter. In the case of unknown systems, existing approaches based on recursive least squares and its variants may suffer from degraded performance due to the highly imbalanced nature of the regression model. This imbalance can easily lead to overfitting and thus degrade prediction accuracy. We tackle this problem by injecting an inductive bias into the regression model via {exponential forgetting}. While exponential forgetting is a common wisdom in online learning, it is typically used for re-weighting data. In contrast, our approach focuses on balancing the regression model. This achieves a better trade-off between {regression} and {regularization errors}, and simultaneously reduces the {accumulation error}. With new proof techniques, we also provide a sharper logarithmic regret bound of $O(\log^3 N)$, where $N$ is the number of observations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08982
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Model-free Online Learning for the Kalman Filter: Forgetting Factor and Logarithmic Regret
Qian, Jiachen
Zheng, Yang
Machine Learning
Systems and Control
Signal Processing
We consider the problem of online prediction for an unknown, non-explosive linear stochastic system. With a known system model, the optimal predictor is the celebrated Kalman filter. In the case of unknown systems, existing approaches based on recursive least squares and its variants may suffer from degraded performance due to the highly imbalanced nature of the regression model. This imbalance can easily lead to overfitting and thus degrade prediction accuracy. We tackle this problem by injecting an inductive bias into the regression model via {exponential forgetting}. While exponential forgetting is a common wisdom in online learning, it is typically used for re-weighting data. In contrast, our approach focuses on balancing the regression model. This achieves a better trade-off between {regression} and {regularization errors}, and simultaneously reduces the {accumulation error}. With new proof techniques, we also provide a sharper logarithmic regret bound of $O(\log^3 N)$, where $N$ is the number of observations.
title Model-free Online Learning for the Kalman Filter: Forgetting Factor and Logarithmic Regret
topic Machine Learning
Systems and Control
Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08982