Serdar Yüksel - Böcker

This book lays a comprehensive theoretical foundation for the study of networked control systems, and introduces tools for work in the field. Covers characterization, comparison and design of information structures in static and dynamic teams and much more.

Networked control systems are increasingly ubiquitous today, with applications ranging from vehicle communication and adaptive power grids to space exploration and economics. The optimal design of such systems presents major challenges, requiring tools from various disciplines within applied mathematics such as decentralized control, stochastic control, information theory, and quantization. A thorough, self-contained book, Stochastic Networked Control Systems: Stabilization and Optimization under Information Constraints aims to connect these diverse disciplines with precision and rigor, while conveying design guidelines to controller architects. Unique in the literature, it lays a comprehensive theoretical foundation for the study of networked control systems, and introduces an array of concrete tools for work in the field.  Salient features included: ·         Characterization, comparison and optimal design of information structures in static and dynamic teams. Operational, structural and topological properties of information structures in optimal decision making, with a systematic program for generating optimal encoding and control policies. The notion of signaling, and its utilization in stabilization and optimization of decentralized control systems.  ·         Presentation of mathematical methods for stochastic stability of networked control systems using random-time, state-dependent drift conditions and martingale methods. ·         Characterization and study of information channels leading to various forms of stochastic stability such as stationarity, ergodicity, and quadratic stability; and connections with information and quantization theories. Analysis of various classes of centralized and decentralized control systems. ·         Jointly optimal design of encoding and control policies over various information channels and under general optimization criteria, including a detailed coverage of linear-quadratic-Gaussian models. ·         Decentralized agreement and dynamic optimization under information constraints. This monograph is geared toward a broad audience of academic and industrial researchers interested in control theory, information theory, optimization, economics, and applied mathematics. It could likewise serve as a supplemental graduate text. The reader is expected to have some familiarity with linear systems, stochastic processes, and Markov chains, but the necessary background can also be acquired in part through the four appendices included at the end. ·         Characterization, comparison and optimal design of information structures in static and dynamic teams. Operational, structural and topological properties of informationstructures in optimal decision making, with a systematic program for generating optimal encoding and control policies. The notion of signaling, and its utilization in stabilization and optimization of decentralized control systems.  ·         Presentation of mathematical methods for stochastic stability of networked control systems using random-time, state-dependent drift conditions and martingale methods.  ·         Characterization and study of information channels leading to various forms of stochastic stability such as stationarity, ergodicity, and quadratic stability; and connections with information and quantization theories. Analysis of various classes of centralized and decentralized control systems. ·         Jointly optimal design of encoding and control policies over various information channels and under general optimization criteria, including a detailed coverage of linear-quadratic-Gaussian models. ·         Decentralized agreement and dynamic optimization under information constraints. This monograph is geared toward a broad audience of academic and industrial researchers interested in control theory, information theory, optimization, economics, and applied mathematics. It could likewiseserve as a supplemental graduate text. The reader is expected to have some familiarity with linear systems, stochastic processes, and Markov chains, but the necessary background can also be acquired in part through the four appendices included at the end.

In a unified form, this monograph presents fundamental results on the approximation of centralized and decentralized stochastic control problems, with uncountable state, measurement, and action spaces.

This monograph presents a mathematically rigorous and accessible treatment of the interaction between information, decision, control, and probability in single-agent and multi-agent systems. The book provides a comprehensive and unified theory of information structures for stochastic control, stochastic teams, stochastic games, and networked control systems.Part I of the text is concerned with a general mathematical theory of information structures for stochastic teams, leading to systematic characterizations and classifications, geometric and topological properties, implications on existence, approximations and relaxations, their comparison, and regularity of optimal solutions in information. Information structures in stochastic games are then considered in Part II, and the dependence of equilibrium solutions and behavior on information is demonstrated. Part III studies information design through information theory in networked control systems – both linear and nonlinear – and discusses optimality and stability criteria. Finally, Part IV introduces information and signaling games under several solution concepts, with applications to prior mismatch, cost mismatch and privacy, reputation games and jamming. This text will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students interested in control theory, information theory, statistics, game theory, and applied mathematics. Readers should be familiar with the basics of linear systems theory, stochastic processes, and Markov chains.

This monograph presents a mathematically rigorous and accessible treatment of the interaction between information, decision, control, and probability in single-agent and multi-agent systems. The book provides a comprehensive and unified theory of information structures for stochastic control, stochastic teams, stochastic games, and networked control systems.Part I of the text is concerned with a general mathematical theory of information structures for stochastic teams, leading to systematic characterizations and classifications, geometric and topological properties, implications on existence, approximations and relaxations, their comparison, and regularity of optimal solutions in information. Information structures in stochastic games are then considered in Part II, and the dependence of equilibrium solutions and behavior on information is demonstrated. Part III studies information design through information theory in networked control systems – both linear and nonlinear – and discusses optimality and stability criteria. Finally, Part IV introduces information and signaling games under several solution concepts, with applications to prior mismatch, cost mismatch and privacy, reputation games and jamming. This text will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students interested in control theory, information theory, statistics, game theory, and applied mathematics. Readers should be familiar with the basics of linear systems theory, stochastic processes, and Markov chains.