No Arabic abstract
Despite the simplicity and intuitive interpretation of Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) estimators, their effectiveness in certain scenarios is questionable. Indeed, minimizing squared errors on average does not provide any form of stability, as the volatility of the estimation error is left unconstrained. When this volatility is statistically significant, the difference between the average and realized performance of the MMSE estimator can be drastically different. To address this issue, we introduce a new risk-aware MMSE formulation which trades between mean performance and risk by explicitly constraining the expected predictive variance of the involved squared error. We show that, under mild moment boundedness conditions, the corresponding risk-aware optimal solution can be evaluated explicitly, and has the form of an appropriately biased nonlinear MMSE estimator. We further illustrate the effectiveness of our approach via several numerical examples, which also showcase the advantages of risk-aware MMSE estimation against risk-neutral MMSE estimation, especially in models involving skewed, heavy-tailed distributions.
We present Free-MESSAGEp, the first zeroth-order algorithm for convex mean-semideviation-based risk-aware learning, which is also the first three-level zeroth-order compositional stochastic optimization algorithm, whatsoever. Using a non-trivial extension of Nesterovs classical results on Gaussian smoothing, we develop the Free-MESSAGEp algorithm from first principles, and show that it essentially solves a smoothed surrogate to the original problem, the former being a uniform approximation of the latter, in a useful, convenient sense. We then present a complete analysis of the Free-MESSAGEp algorithm, which establishes convergence in a user-tunable neighborhood of the optimal solutions of the original problem, as well as explicit convergence rates for both convex and strongly convex costs. Orderwise, and for fixed problem parameters, our results demonstrate no sacrifice in convergence speed compared to existing first-order methods, while striking a certain balance among the condition of the problem, its dimensionality, as well as the accuracy of the obtained results, naturally extending previous results in zeroth-order risk-neutral learning.
Stochastic stability for centralized time-varying Kalman filtering over a wireles ssensor network with correlated fading channels is studied. On their route to the gateway, sensor packets, possibly aggregated with measurements from several nodes, may be dropped because of fading links. To study this situation, we introduce a network state process, which describes a finite set of configurations of the radio environment. The network state characterizes the channel gain distributions of the links, which are allowed to be correlated between each other. Temporal correlations of channel gains are modeled by allowing the network state process to form a (semi-)Markov chain. We establish sufficient conditions that ensure the Kalman filter to be exponentially bounded. In the one-sensor case, this new stability condition is shown to include previous results obtained in the literature as special cases. The results also hold when using power and bit-rate control policies, where the transmission power and bit-rate of each node are nonlinear mapping of the network state and channel gains.
The landscape of empirical risk has been widely studied in a series of machine learning problems, including low-rank matrix factorization, matrix sensing, matrix completion, and phase retrieval. In this work, we focus on the situation where the corresponding population risk is a degenerate non-convex loss function, namely, the Hessian of the population risk can have zero eigenvalues. Instead of analyzing the non-convex empirical risk directly, we first study the landscape of the corresponding population risk, which is usually easier to characterize, and then build a connection between the landscape of the empirical risk and its population risk. In particular, we establish a correspondence between the critical points of the empirical risk and its population risk without the strongly Morse assumption, which is required in existing literature but not satisfied in degenerate scenarios. We also apply the theory to matrix sensing and phase retrieval to demonstrate how to infer the landscape of empirical risk from that of the corresponding population risk.
We solve non-Markovian optimal switching problems in discrete time on an infinite horizon, when the decision maker is risk aware and the filtration is general, and establish existence and uniqueness of solutions for the associated reflected backward stochastic difference equations. An example application to hydropower planning is provided.
We present a new, tractable method for solving and analyzing risk-aware control problems over finite and infinite, discounted time-horizons where the dynamics of the controlled process are described as a martingale problem. Supposing general Polish state and action spaces, and using generalized, relaxed controls, we state a risk-aware dynamic optimal control problem of minimizing risk of costs described by a generic risk function. We then construct an alternative formulation that takes the form of a nonlinear programming problem, constrained by the dynamic, {i.e.} time-dependent, and linear Kolmogorov forward equation describing the distribution of the state and accumulated costs. We show that the formulations are equivalent, and that the optimal control process can be taken to be Markov in the controlled process state, running costs, and time. We further prove that under additional conditions, the optimal value is attained. An example numeric problem is presented and solved.