Nonlinear Semidefinite Programming Research Articles

Nonlinear semidefinite programming: sensitivity, convergence, and an application in passive reduced-order modeling

We consider the solution of nonlinear programs with nonlinear semidefiniteness constraints. The need for an efficient exploitation of the cone of positive semidefinite matrices makes the solution of such nonlinear semidefinite programs more complicated than the solution of standard nonlinear programs. This paper studies a sequential semidefinite programming (SSP) method, which is a generalization of the well-known sequential quadratic programming method for standard nonlinear programs. We present a sensitivity result for nonlinear semidefinite programs, and then based on this result, we give a self-contained proof of local quadratic convergence of the SSP method. We also describe a class of nonlinear semidefinite programs that arise in passive reduced-order modeling, and we report results of some numerical experiments with the SSP method applied to problems in that class.

Approximate Augmented Lagrangian Functions and Nonlinear Semidefinite Programs

In this paper, an approximate augmented Lagrangian function for nonlinear semidefinite programs is introduced. Some basic properties of the approximate augmented Lagrange function such as monotonicity and convexity are discussed. Necessary and sufficient conditions for approximate strong duality results are derived. Conditions for an approximate exact penalty representation in the framework of augmented Lagrangian are given. Under certain conditions, it is shown that any limit point of a sequence of stationary points of approximate augmented Lagrangian problems is a KKT point of the original semidefinite program and that a sequence of optimal solutions to augmented Lagrangian problems converges to a solution of the original semidefinite program.

Static Output Feedback ℋ︁∞–Synthesis by solving the ℋ︁∞–NSDP

AbstractWe consider the solution of the static output feedback (SOF) ℋ︁∞ control design problem. In particular, we solve the corresponding non–convex and nonlinear semidefinite program (NSDP), the so–called ℋ︁∞–NSDP, by a suitable optimization solver. Finally, we demonstrate the behavior of the solver on the COMPleibbenchmark collection. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

An augmented Lagrangian SQP method for solving some special class of nonlinear semi-definite programming problems

In this paper, we consider a special class of nonlinear semi-definite programming problems that represents the fixed order H2/H<FONT FACE=Symbol>¥</FONT> synthesis problem. An augmented Lagrangian sequential quadratic programming method combined with a trust region globalization strategy is described, taking advantage of the problem structure and using inexact computations. Some numerical examples that illustrate the performance of the method are given.

An augmented Lagrangian SQP method for solving some special class of nonlinear semi-definite programming problems

In this paper, we consider a special class of nonlinear semi-definite programming problems that represents the fixed order H2/H¥ synthesis problem. An augmented Lagrangian sequential quadratic programming method combined with a trust region globalization strategy is described, taking advantage of the problem structure and using inexact computations. Some numerical examples that illustrate the performance of the method are given.

A proximal-point SQP trust region method for solving some special class of nonlinear semi-definite programming problems

In this paper, we consider a nonlinear semi-definite programming problem that represents the fixed order H 2 and H 2 / H ∞ synthesis problems. A proximal-point sequential quadratic programming method that makes use of trust region is developed. Furthermore, the constrained trust region method [F. Leibfritz, E.M.E. Mostafa, Trust region methods for solving the optimal output feedback design problem, Int. J. Contr. 76 (2003) 501–519], which was designed to solve a nonlinear semi-definite program representing the H 2 synthesis problem, is extended to solve a more general nonlinear semi-definite program representing the fixed order H 2 / H ∞ synthesis problem. Numerical results for the proposed methods are given.

Successive Linearization Methods for Nonlinear Semidefinite Programs

We present a successive linearization method with a trust region-type globalization for the solution of nonlinear semidefinite programs. At each iteration, the method solves a quadratic semidefinite program, which can be converted to a linear semidefinite program with a second order cone constraint. A subproblem of this kind can be solved quite efficiently by using some recent software for semidefinite and second-order cone programs. The method is shown to be globally convergent under certain assumptions. Numerical results on some nonlinear semidefinite programs including optimization problems with bilinear matrix inequalities are reported to illustrate the behaviour of the proposed method.

Duality theories in nonlinear semidefinite programming

We consider the duality theories in nonlinear semidefinite programming. Some duality theorems are established to show the important relations among the optimal solutions and optimal values of the primal, the dual and the saddle point problems of nonlinear semidefinite programming.

Reduced order output feedback control design for PDE systems using proper orthogonal decomposition and nonlinear semidefinite programming

The design of an optimal (output feedback) reduced order control (ROC) law for a dynamic control system is an important example of a difficult and in general non-convex (nonlinear) optimal control problem. In this paper we present a novel numerical strategy to the solution of the ROC design problem if the control system is described by partial differential equations (PDE). The discretization of the ROC problem with PDE constraints leads to a large scale (non-convex) nonlinear semidefinite program (NSDP). For reducing the size of the high dimensional control system, first, we apply a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method to the discretized PDE. The POD approach leads to a low dimensional model of the control system. Thereafter, we solve the corresponding small-sized NSDP by a fully iterative interior point constraint trust region (IPCTR) algorithm. IPCTR is designed to take advantage of the special structure of the NSDP. Finally, the solution is a ROC for the low dimensional approximation of the control system. In our numerical examples we demonstrate that the reduced order controller computed from the small scaled problem can be used to control the large scale approximation of the PDE system.

Generalized separation theorems and the Farkas’ lemma

The main purpose of this paper is to extend the conventional separation theorems concerning the convex subset of R m to generalized separation theorems concerning the convex subset of R m × S n . This is accomplished by the introduction of the generalized inner product in R m × S n . Then we derive the famous Farkas’ lemma in nonlinear semidefinite programming, which may be very important for the analysis of the dual theory and optimality conditions of nonlinear semidefinite programming.

A Global Algorithm for Nonlinear Semidefinite Programming

In this paper we propose a global algorithm for solving nonlinear semidefinite programming problems. This algorithm, inspired by the classic SQP (sequentially quadratic programming) method, modifies the S-SDP (sequentially semidefinite programming) local method by using a nondifferentiable merit function combined with a line search strategy.

A sequential quadratic penalty method for nonlinear semidefinite programming

In this article, a nonlinear semidefinite program is reformulated into a mathematical program with a matrix equality constraint and a sequential quadratic penalty method is proposed to solve the latter problem. We discuss the differentiability and convexity of the penalty function. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence of optimal values of penalty problems to that of the original semidefinite program are obtained. The convergence of optimal solutions of penalty problems to that of the original semidefinite program is also investigated. We show that any limit point of a sequence of stationary points of penalty problems satisfies the KKT optimality condition of the semidefinite program. Smoothed penalty problems that have the same order of smothness as the original semidefinite program are adopted. Corresponding results such as the convexity of the smoothed penalty function, the convergence of optimal values, optimal solutions and the stationary points of the smoothed penalty problems are obtained.

Estimation of failure probability using semi-definite logit model

We will propose a new and practical method for estimating the failure probability of a large number of small to medium scale companies using their balance sheet data. We will use the maximum likelihood method to estimate the best parameters of the logit function, where the failure intensity function in its exponent is represented as a convex quadratic function instead of a commonly used linear function. The reasons for using this type of function are : (i) it can better represent the observed nonlinear dependence of failure probability on financial attributes, (ii) the resulting likelihood function can be maximized using a cutting plane algorithm developed for nonlinear semi-definite programming problems. We will show that we can achieve better prediction performance than the standard logit model, using thousands of sample companies.

Cutting Plane Algorithms for Nonlinear Semi-Definite Programming Problems with Applications

We will propose an outer-approximation (cutting plane) method for minimizing a function fX subject to semi-definite constraints on the variables X∈Rn. A number of efficient algorithms have been proposed when the objective function is linear. However, there are very few practical algorithms when the objective function is nonlinear. An algorithm to be proposed here is a kind of outer-approximation(cutting plane) method, which has been successfully applied to several low rank global optimization problems including generalized convex multiplicative programming problems and generalized linear fractional programming problems, etc. We will show that this algorithm works well when f is convex and n is relatively small. Also, we will provide the proof of its convergence under various technical assumptions.

Solving a class of semidefinite programs via nonlinear programming

In this paper, we introduce a transformation that converts a class of linear and nonlinear semidefinite programming (SDP) problems into nonlinear optimization problems. For those problems of interest, the transformation replaces matrix-valued constraints by vector-valued ones, hence reducing the number of constraints by an order of magnitude. The class of transformable problems includes instances of SDP relaxations of combinatorial optimization problems with binary variables as well as other important SDP problems. We also derive gradient formulas for the objective function of the resulting nonlinear optimization problem and show that both function and gradient evaluations have affordable complexities that effectively exploit the sparsity of the problem data. This transformation, together with the efficient gradient formulas, enables the solution of very large-scale SDP problems by gradient-based nonlinear optimization techniques. In particular, we propose a first-order log-barrier method designed for solving a class of large-scale linear SDP problems. This algorithm operates entirely within the space of the transformed problem while still maintaining close ties with both the primal and the dual of the original SDP problem. Global convergence of the algorithm is established under mild and reasonable assumptions.

THE CENTRAL PATH IN SMOOTH CONVEX SEMIDEFINITE PROGRAMS

In this paper we study the welldefinedness of the central path associated to a nonlinear convex semidefinite programming problem with smooth objective and constraint functions. Under standard assumptions, we prove that the existence of the central path is equivalent to the nonemptiness and boundedness of the optimal set. Other equivalent conditions are given, such as the existence of a strictly dual feasible point or the existence of a single central point. The monotonic behavior of the primal and dual logarithmic barriers and of the primal and dual objective functions along the trajectory is also discussed. The existence and optimality of cluster points is established and finally, under the additional assumption of analyticity of the data functions, the convergence of the primal-dual trajectory is proved.

An Interior Point Constrained Trust Region Method for a Special Class of Nonlinear Semidefinite Programming Problems

In this paper, an interior point trust region algorithm for the solution of a class of nonlinear semidefinite programming (SDP) problems is described and analyzed. Such nonlinear and nonconvex programs arise, e.g., in the design of optimal static or reduced order output feedback control laws and have the structure of abstract optimal control problems in a finite dimensional Hilbert space. The algorithm treats the abstract states and controls as independent variables. In particular, an algorithm for minimizing a nonlinear matrix objective functional subject to a nonlinear SDP-condition, a positive definiteness condition, and a nonlinear matrix equation is considered. The algorithm is designed to take advantage of the structure of the problem. It is an extension of an interior point trust region method to nonlinear and nonconvex SDPs, with a special structure which applies sequential quadratic programming techniques to a sequence of barrier problems and uses trust regions to ensure robustness of the iteration. Some convergence results are given, and, finally, several numerical examples demonstrate the applicability of the considered algorithm.

On the central path for nonlinear semidefinite programming

In this paper we study the well definedness of the central path associated to a given nonlinear (convex) semidefinite programming problem. Under standard assumptions, we establish that the existence of the central path is equivalent to the nonemptiness and boundedness of the optimal set. Other equivalent conditions are given, such as the existence of a strictly dual feasible point or the existence of a single central point.The monotonic behavior of the logarithmic barrier and the objective function along the trajectory is also discussed. Finally, the existence and optimality of cluster points are established.

Optimality conditions for nonconvex semidefinite programming

This paper concerns nonlinear semidefinite programming problems for which no convexity assumptions can be made. We derive first- and second-order optimality conditions analogous to those for nonlinear programming. Using techniques similar to those used in nonlinear programming, we extend existing theory to cover situations where the constraint matrix is structurally sparse. The discussion covers the case when strict complementarity does not hold. The regularity conditions used are consistent with those of nonlinear programming in the sense that the conventional optimality conditions for nonlinear programming are obtained when the constraint matrix is diagonal.

First and second order analysis of nonlinear semidefinite programs

First and second order analysis of nonlinear semidefinite programs