A variational inequality for measurement feedback almost-dissipative control

Abstract

In this paper, an optimal measurement feedback control problem that yields an almost- (or practically) dissipative closed loop system is considered. That is, the aim is to consider optimal control problems which, when solved, yield a closed loop system which almost satisfies a dissipation inequality. The main idea is that by weakening the required dissipation inequality, a broader class of open loop systems and controllers are admissible, leading to broader application. In obtaining the main results of this paper, dynamic programming is applied to the optimal control problem of interest to derive a variational inequality that generalizes the information state based partial differential equation associated with measurement feedback nonlinear dissipative control. This variational inequality can in principle be used to derive the optimal controller. In the special case of certainty equivalence, an explicit solution of the variational inequality exists and is a functional of the solution of the corresponding optimal state feedback almost-dissipative control problem.