Springer Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes (Communications and Control Engineering)

Markov decision process (MDP) models are widely used for modeling sequential decision-making problems that arise in engineering, economics, computer science, and the social sciences. This book brings the state-of-the-art research together for the first time. It provides practical modeling methods for many real-world problems with high dimensionality or complexity which have not hitherto been treatable with Markov decision processes. From the Back Cover Markov decision process (MDP) models are widely used for modeling sequential decision-making problems that arise in engineering, economics, computer science, and the social sciences. It is well-known that many real-world problems modeled by MDPs have huge state and/or action spaces, leading to the notorious curse of dimensionality that makes practical solution of the resulting models intractable. In other cases, the system of interest is complex enough that it is not feasible to specify some of the MDP model parameters explicitly, but simulation samples are readily available (e.g., for random transitions and costs). For these settings, various sampling and population-based numerical algorithms have been developed recently to overcome the difficulties of computing an optimal solution in terms of a policy and/or value function. Specific approaches include: • multi-stage adaptive sampling; • evolutionary policy iteration; • evolutionary random policy search; and • model reference adaptive search. Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes brings this state-of-the-art research together for the first time and presents it in a manner that makes it accessible to researchers with varying interests and backgrounds. In addition to providing numerous specific algorithms, the exposition includes both illustrative numerical examples and rigorous theoretical convergence results. The algorithms developed and analyzed differ from the successful computational methods for solving MDPs based on neuro-dynamic programming or reinforcement learning and will complement work in those areas. Furthermore, the authors show how to combine the various algorithms introduced with approximate dynamic programming methods that reduce the size of the state space and ameliorate the effects of dimensionality. The self-contained approach of this book will appeal not only to researchers in MDPs, stochastic modeling and control, and simulation but will be a valuable source of instruction and reference for students of control and operations research. About the Author Steven I. Marcus received his Ph.D. and S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and 1972, respectively. He received a B.A. from Rice University in 1971. From 1975 to 1991, he was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the L.B. (Preach) Meaders Professor in Engineering. He was Associate Chairman of the Department during the period 1984-89. In 1991, he joined the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was Director of the Institute for Systems Research until 1996. He is currently a Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department and the Institute for Systems Research. Steven Marcus is a Fellow of IEEE, and a member of SIAM, AMS, and the Operations Research Society of America. He is an Editor of the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, and Associate Editor of Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems, Journal on Discrete Event Dynamic Systems, and Acta Applicandae Mathematicae. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters. Dr. Marcus's research interests lie in the areas of control and systems engineering, analysis and control of stochastic systems, Markov decision processes, stochastic and adaptive control, learning, fault detection, and discrete event systems, with applications in manufacturing, acoustics, and communication networks.