Discovering interpretable piecewise nonlinear model predictive control laws via symbolic decision trees

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mitrai, Ilias
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908588839010304
author Mitrai, Ilias
author_facet Mitrai, Ilias
contents In this paper, we propose symbolic decision trees as surrogate models for approximating model predictive control laws. The proposed approach learns simultaneously the partition of the input domain (splitting logic) as well as local nonlinear expressions for predicting the control action leading to interpretable piecewise nonlinear control laws. The local nonlinear expressions are determined by the learning problem and are modeled using a set of basis functions. The learning task is posed as a mixed integer optimization, which is solved to global optimality with state-of-the-art global optimization solvers. We apply the proposed approach to a case study regarding the control of an isothermal reactor. The results show that the proposed approach can learn the control law accurately, leading to closed-loop performance comparable to that of a standard model predictive controller. Finally, comparison with existing interpretable models shows that the symbolic trees achieve both lower prediction error and superior closed-loop performance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_10411
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Discovering interpretable piecewise nonlinear model predictive control laws via symbolic decision trees
Mitrai, Ilias
Systems and Control
In this paper, we propose symbolic decision trees as surrogate models for approximating model predictive control laws. The proposed approach learns simultaneously the partition of the input domain (splitting logic) as well as local nonlinear expressions for predicting the control action leading to interpretable piecewise nonlinear control laws. The local nonlinear expressions are determined by the learning problem and are modeled using a set of basis functions. The learning task is posed as a mixed integer optimization, which is solved to global optimality with state-of-the-art global optimization solvers. We apply the proposed approach to a case study regarding the control of an isothermal reactor. The results show that the proposed approach can learn the control law accurately, leading to closed-loop performance comparable to that of a standard model predictive controller. Finally, comparison with existing interpretable models shows that the symbolic trees achieve both lower prediction error and superior closed-loop performance.
title Discovering interpretable piecewise nonlinear model predictive control laws via symbolic decision trees
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10411