Title: First Order Methods for Control Synthesis

THURSDAY, DECEMBER, 2, 2021 11:00AM-11:50AM

Abstract: In this talk, we reexamine feedback synthesis through the lens of first order methods and data-guided control. Control synthesis has historically been approached via parameterization of certificates for robustness and performance. In the seminar, I will first discuss how first order methods facilitate a streamlined formalism to control synthesis. I will then examine how such methods also open up a new way of looking at some old and new problems in control. These problems include data-guided control, structured synthesis, and indefinite least squares optimal control. Lastly, I will discuss various topological and geometric properties of the feasible sets of the corresponding optimization problems, as well as some of their algorithmic implications.