Discrete-Time Nonlinear HJB Solution Using Approximate Dynamic Programming: Convergence Proof

Convergence of the value-iteration-based heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) algorithm is proven in the case of general nonlinear systems. That is, it is shown that HDP converges to the optimal control and the optimal value function that solves the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation appearing in infinite-horizon discrete-time (DT) nonlinear optimal control. It is assumed that, at each iteration, the value and action update equations can be exactly solved. The following two standard neural networks (NN) are used: a critic NN is used to approximate the value function, whereas an action network is used to approximate the optimal control policy. It is stressed that this approach allows the implementation of HDP…