Open-Loop Viable Control Under Uncertain Initial State Information

Abstract

We consider the problem of open-loop viable control of a nonlinear system in Rn in the case of a nonexactly known initial state. We characterize the family of those initial sets for which the problem is solvable. The characterization employs the notion of a contingent field to a given collection of sets introduced in the paper. It also involves an appropriate set-dynamic equation that describes the evolution of the state estimation within a prescribed collection of sets. An extension of the classical concept of viability kernel with respect to this set-dynamic equation is the key tool. We present an approximation scheme for the viability kernel which is numerically realizable in the case of low dimension and simple collections of sets chosen for state estimation (balls, ellipsoids, polyhedrons, etc.). As an application, we consider a viability differential game, where the uncertainty may enter also in the dynamics of the system as an input which is not known in advance. The control is then sought as a nonanticipative strategy depending on the uncertain input.