# Control of Unknown Nonlinear Systems with Linear Time-Varying MPC

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.03041 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.03041/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 6 Apr 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Learning to Control an Unstable System with One Minute of Data: Leveraging Gaussian Process Differentiation in Predictive Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.04548/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present a Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy for unknown input-affine nonlinear dynamical systems. A non-parametric method is used to estimate the nonlinear dynamics from observed data. The estimated nonlinear dynamics are then linearized over time varying regions of the state space to construct an Affine Time Varying (ATV) model. Error bounds arising from the estimation and linearization procedure are computed by using sampling techniques. The ATV model and the uncertainty sets are used to design a robust Model Predictive Control (MPC) problem which guarantees safety for the unknown system with high probability. A simple nonlinear example demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach where commonly used linearization methods fail.