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Dipankar Maity

Publications and source records attributed to Dipankar Maity.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A Linear Programming Framework for Optimal Event-Triggered LQG Control

This letter explores intelligent scheduling of sensor-to-controller communication in networked control systems, particularly when data transmission incurs a cost. While the optimal controller in a standard linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) setup can be computed analytically, determining the optimal times to transmit sensor data remains computationally and analytically challenging. We show that, through reformulation and the introduction of auxiliary binary variables, the scheduling problem can be cast as a computationally efficient mixed-integer linear program (MILP). This formulation not only simplifies the analysis but also reveals structural insights and provides clear decision criteria at each step. Embedding the approach within a model predictive control (MPC) framework enables dynamic adaptation, and we prove that the resulting scheduler performs at least as well as any deterministic strategy (e.g., periodic strategy). Simulation results further demonstrate that our method consistently outperforms traditional periodic scheduling.

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Target Defense against Sequentially Arriving Intruders: Algorithm for Agents with Dubins Dynamics

We consider a variant of the target defense problem where a single defender is tasked to capture a sequence of incoming intruders. Both the defender and the intruders have non-holonomic dynamics. The intruders' objective is to breach the target perimeter without being captured by the defender, while the defender's goal is to capture as many intruders as possible. After one intruder breaches or is captured, the next appears randomly on a fixed circle surrounding the target. Therefore, the defender's final position in one game becomes its starting position for the next. We divide an intruder-defender engagement into two phases, partial information and full information, depending on the information available to the players. We address the capturability of an intruder by the defender using the notions of Dubins path and guarding arc. We quantify the percentage of capture for both finite and infinite sequences of incoming intruders. Finally, the theoretical results are verified through numerical examples using Monte-Carlo-type random trials of experiments.

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Data to Certificate: Guaranteed Cost Control with Quantization-Aware System Identification

Cloud-assisted system identification and control have emerged as practical solutions for low-power, resource-constrained control systems such as micro-UAVs. In a typical cloud-assisted setting, state and input data are transmitted from local agents to a central computer over low-bandwidth wireless links, leading to quantization. This paper investigates the impact of state and input data quantization on a linear time invariant (LTI) system identification, derives a worst-case bound on the identification error, and develops a robust controller for guaranteed cost control. We establish a fundamental bound on the model error that depends only on the quantized data and quantization resolution, and develop a linear matrix inequality (LMI) based guaranteed cost robust controller under this error bound.

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Multi-Attacker Single-Defender Target Defense in Conical Environments

We consider a variant of the target defense problem in a planar conical environment where a single defender is tasked to capture a sequence of incoming attackers. The attackers' objective is to breach the target boundary without being captured by the defender. As soon as the current attacker breaches the target or gets captured by the defender, the next attacker appears at the boundary of the environment and moves radially toward the target with maximum speed. Therefore, the defender's final location at the end of the current game becomes its initial location for the next game. The attackers pick strategies that are advantageous for the current as well as for future engagements between the defender and the remaining attackers. The attackers have their own sensors with limited range, using which they can perfectly detect if the defender is within their sensing range. We derive equilibrium strategies for all the players to optimize the capture percentage using the notions of capture distribution. Finally, the theoretical results are verified through numerical examples using Monte Carlo type random trials of experiments.

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Target Defense Using a Turret and Mobile Defender Team

A scenario is considered wherein a stationary, turn constrained agent (Turret) and a mobile agent (Defender) cooperate to protect the former from an adversarial mobile agent (Attacker). The Attacker wishes to reach the Turret prior to getting captured by either the Defender or Turret, if possible. Meanwhile, the Defender and Turret seek to capture the Attacker as far from the Turret as possible. This scenario is formulated as a differential game and solved using a geometric approach. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the Turret-Defender team winning and the Attacker winning are given. In the case of the Turret-Defender team winning equilibrium strategies for the min max terminal distance of the Attacker to the Turret are given. Three cases arise corresponding to solo capture by the Defender, solo capture by the Turret, and capture simultaneously by both Turret and Defender.

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Multi-agent Task-Driven Exploration via Intelligent Map Compression and Sharing

This paper investigates the task-driven exploration of unknown environments with mobile sensors communicating compressed measurements. The sensors explore the area and transmit their compressed data to another robot, assisting it to reach its goal location. We propose a novel communication framework and a tractable multi-agent exploration algorithm to select the sensors' actions. The algorithm uses a task-driven measure of uncertainty, resulting from map compression, as a reward function. We validate the efficacy of our algorithm through numerical simulations conducted on a realistic map and compare it with alternative approaches. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm effectively decreases the time required for the robot to reach its target without causing excessive load on the communication network.

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Communication-Aware Map Compression for Online Path-Planning: A Rate-Distortion Approach

This paper addresses the problem of collaborative navigation in an unknown environment, where two robots, referred to in the sequel as the Seeker and the Supporter, traverse the space simultaneously. The Supporter assists the Seeker by transmitting a compressed representation of its local map under bandwidth constraints to support the Seeker's path-planning task. We introduce a bit-rate metric based on the expected binary codeword length to quantify communication cost. Using this metric, we formulate the compression design problem as a rate-distortion optimization problem that determines when to communicate, which regions of the map should be included in the compressed representation, and at what resolution (i.e., quantization level) they should be encoded. Our formulation allows different map regions to be encoded at varying quantization levels based on their relevance to the Seeker's path-planning task. We demonstrate that the resulting optimization problem is convex, and admits a closed-form solution known in the information theory literature as reverse water-filling, enabling efficient, low-computation, and real-time implementation. Additionally, we show that the Seeker can infer the compression decisions of the Supporter independently, requiring only the encoded map content and not the encoding policy itself to be transmitted, thereby reducing communication overhead. Simulation results indicate that our method effectively constructs compressed, task-relevant map representations, both in content and resolution, that guide the Seeker's planning decisions even under tight bandwidth limitations.

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Communication-aware Hierarchical Map Compression of Time-Varying Environments for Mobile Robots

In this paper, we develop a systematic framework for the time-sequential compression of dynamic probabilistic occupancy grids. Our approach leverages ideas from signal compression theory to formulate an optimization problem that searches for a multi-resolution hierarchical encoder that balances the quality of the compressed map (distortion) with its description size, the latter of which relates to the bandwidth required to reliably transmit the map to other agents or to store map estimates in on-board memory. The resulting optimization problem allows for multi-resolution map compressions to be obtained that satisfy available communication or memory resources, and does not require knowledge of the occupancy map dynamics. We develop an algorithm to solve our problem, and demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework in simulation on both static (i.e., non-time varying) and dynamic (time-varying) occupancy maps.

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InterQ: A DQN Framework for Optimal Intermittent Control

In this letter, we explore the communication-control co-design of discrete-time stochastic linear systems through reinforcement learning. Specifically, we examine a closed-loop system involving two sequential decision-makers: a scheduler and a controller. The scheduler continuously monitors the system's state but transmits it to the controller intermittently to balance the communication cost and control performance. The controller, in turn, determines the control input based on the intermittently received information. Given the partially nested information structure, we show that the optimal control policy follows a certainty-equivalence form. Subsequently, we analyze the qualitative behavior of the scheduling policy. To develop the optimal scheduling policy, we propose InterQ, a deep reinforcement learning algorithm which uses a deep neural network to approximate the Q-function. Through extensive numerical evaluations, we analyze the scheduling landscape and further compare our approach against two baseline strategies: (a) a multi-period periodic scheduling policy, and (b) an event-triggered policy. The results demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms both baselines. The open source implementation can be found at https://github.com/AC-sh/InterQ.

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On Model Protection in Federated Learning against Eavesdropping Attacks

In this study, we investigate the protection offered by federated learning algorithms against eavesdropping adversaries. In our model, the adversary is capable of intercepting model updates transmitted from clients to the server, enabling it to create its own estimate of the model. Unlike previous research, which predominantly focuses on safeguarding client data, our work shifts attention protecting the client model itself. Through a theoretical analysis, we examine how various factors, such as the probability of client selection, the structure of local objective functions, global aggregation at the server, and the eavesdropper's capabilities, impact the overall level of protection. We further validate our findings through numerical experiments, assessing the protection by evaluating the model accuracy achieved by the adversary. Finally, we compare our results with methods based on differential privacy, underscoring their limitations in this specific context.

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QSID-MPC: Model Predictive Control with System Identification from Quantized Data

Least-square system identification is widely used for data-driven model-predictive control (MPC) of unknown or partially known systems. This letter investigates how the system identification and subsequent MPC is affected when the state and input data is quantized. Specifically, we examine the fundamental connection between model error and quantization resolution and how that affects the stability and boundedness of the MPC tracking error. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, with a sufficiently rich dataset, the model error is bounded by a function of quantization resolution and the MPC tracking error is also ultimately bounded similarly. The theory is validated through numerical experiments conducted on two different linear dynamical systems.

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Communication-Aware Iterative Map Compression for Online Path-Planning

This paper addresses the problem of optimizing communicated information among heterogeneous, resource-aware robot teams to facilitate their navigation. In such operations, a mobile robot compresses its local map to assist another robot in reaching a target within an uncharted environment. The primary challenge lies in ensuring that the map compression step balances network load while transmitting only the most essential information for effective navigation. We propose a communication framework that sequentially selects the optimal map compression in a task-driven, communication-aware manner. It introduces a decoder capable of iterative map estimation, handling noise through Kalman filter techniques. The computational speed of our decoder allows for a larger compression template set compared to previous methods, and enables applications in more challenging environments. Specifically, our simulations demonstrate a remarkable 98% reduction in communicated information, compared to a framework that transmits the raw data, on a large Mars inclination map and an Earth map, all while maintaining similar planning costs. Furthermore, our method significantly reduces computational time compared to the state-of-the-art approach.

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Communication and Control Co-design in Non-cooperative Games

In this article, we revisit a communication-control co-design problem for a class of two-player stochastic differential games on an infinite horizon. Each 'player' represents two active decision makers, namely a scheduler and a remote controller, which cooperate to optimize over a global objective while competing with the other player. Each player's scheduler can only intermittently relay state information to its respective controller due to associated cost/constraint to communication. The scheduler's policy determines the information structure at the controller, thereby affecting the quality of the control inputs. Consequently, it leads to the classical communication-control trade-off problem. A high communication frequency improves the control performance of the player on account of a higher communication cost, and vice versa. Under suitable information structures of the players, we first compute the Nash controller policies for both players in terms of the conditional estimate of the state. Consequently, we reformulate the problem of computing Nash scheduler policies (within a class of parametrized randomized policies) into solving for the steady-state solution of a generalized Sylvester equation. Since the above-mentioned reformulation involves infinite sum of powers of the policy parameters, we provide a projected gradient descent-based algorithm to numerically compute a Nash equilibrium using a truncated polynomial approximation. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the Nash control and scheduler policies using extensive numerical simulations.

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Koopman Meets Limited Bandwidth: Effect of Quantization on Data-Driven Linear Prediction and Control of Nonlinear Systems

Koopman-based lifted linear identification have been widely used for data-driven prediction and model predictive control (MPC) of nonlinear systems. It has found applications in flow-control, soft robotics, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). For autonomous systems, this system identification method works by embedding the nonlinear system in a higher-dimensional linear space and computing a finite-dimensional approximation of the corresponding Koopman operator with the Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition (EDMD) algorithm. EDMD is a data-driven algorithm that estimates an approximate linear system by lifting the state data-snapshots via nonlinear dictionary functions. For control systems, EDMD is further modified to utilize both state and control data-snapshots to estimate a lifted linear predictor with control input. This article investigates how the estimation process is affected when the data is quantized. Specifically, we examine the fundamental connection between estimates of the linear predictor matrices obtained from unquantized data and those from quantized data via modified EDMD. Furthermore, using the law of large numbers, we demonstrate that, under a large data regime, the quantized estimate can be considered a regularized version of the unquantized estimate. We also explore the relationship between the two estimates in the finite data regime. We further analyze the effect of nonlinear lifting functions on this regularization due to quantization. The theory is validated through repeated numerical experiments conducted on several control systems. The effect of quantization on the MPC performance is also demonstrated.

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Cooperative Target Defense under Communication and Sensing Constraints

We consider a variant of the target defense problems where a group of defenders are tasked to simultaneously capture an intruder. The intruder's objective is to reach a target without being simultaneously captured by the defender team. Some of the defenders are sensing-limited and do not have any information regarding the intruder's position or velocity at any time. The defenders may communicate with each other using a connected communication graph. We propose a decentralized feedback strategy for the defenders, which transforms the simultaneous capture problem into a unique nonlinear consensus problem. We derive a sufficient condition for simultaneous capture in terms of the agents' speeds, sensing, and communication capabilities. The proposed decentralized controller is evaluated through extensive numerical simulations.

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Ensuring System-Level Protection against Eavesdropping Adversaries in Distributed Dynamical Systems

In this work, we address the objective of protecting the states of a distributed dynamical system from eavesdropping adversaries. We prove that state-of-the-art distributed algorithms, which rely on communicating the agents' states, are vulnerable in that the final states can be perfectly estimated by any adversary including those with arbitrarily small eavesdropping success probability. While existing literature typically adds an extra layer of protection, such as encryption or differential privacy techniques, we demonstrate the emergence of a fundamental protection quotient in distributed systems when innovation signals are communicated instead of the agents' states.

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On the Effect of Quantization on Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition

Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition (EDMD) is a widely used data-driven algorithm for estimating the Koopman Operator. EDMD extends Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) by lifting the snapshot data using nonlinear dictionary functions before performing the estimation. This letter investigates how the estimation process is affected when the data is quantized. Specifically, we examine the fundamental connection between estimates of the operator obtained from unquantized data and those from quantized data via EDMD. Furthermore, using the law of large numbers, we demonstrate that, under a large data regime, the quantized estimate can be considered a regularized version of the unquantized estimate. We also explore the relationship between the two estimates in the finite data regime. We further analyze the effect of nonlinear lifting functions on this regularization due to quantization. The theory is validated through repeated numerical experiments conducted on two different dynamical systems.

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Best Response Strategies for Asymmetric Sensing in Linear-Quadratic Differential Games

In this paper, we revisit the two-player continuous-time infinite-horizon linear quadratic differential game problem, where one of the players can sample the state of the system only intermittently due to a sensing constraint while the other player can do so continuously. Under these asymmetric sensing limitations between the players, we analyze the optimal sensing and control strategies for the player at a disadvantage while the other player continues to play its security strategy. We derive an optimal sensor policy within the class of stationary randomized policies. Finally, using simulations, we show that the expected cost accrued by the first player approaches its security level as its sensing limitation is relaxed.

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