Give

Graduate Exam Abstract


Yugandhar Sarkale

Ph.D. Final
October 23, 2019, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
ECE Conference Room (C101B)
Problems on Decision Making under Uncertainty

Abstract: Humans and machines must often make rational choices in the face of uncertainty. Determining decisions, actions, choices, or alternatives that optimize objectives for real-world problems is computationally difficult. This dissertation proposes novel solutions to such optimization problems for both deterministic and stochastic cases; the proposed methods maintain near-optimal solution quality. Even though the generalizability of the techniques developed in our work cannot be limited to a few examples, the applications addressed in our work include post-hazard large-scale real- world community recovery management, path planning of UAVs by incorporating feedback from intelligence assets, and closed-loop, urban target tracking in challenging environments.

Adviser: Edwin Chong
Co-Adviser: N/A
Non-ECE Member: Yongcheng Zhou, Math
Member 3: Rockey Luo, ECE
Addional Members: Peter Young, ECE

Publications:
[1] Y. Sarkale and E. K. P. Chong, "Orchestrated management of heterogeneous sensors incorporating feedback from intelligence assets," in Proceedings of the Conference on Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion, and Target Recognition XXIV (SPIE Vol. 9474), part of the SPIE Symposium on Defense + Security, Baltimore, Maryland, April 20--24, 2015, Paper 9474-9.
http://spie.org/Publications/Proceedings/Paper/10.1117/12.2176434?SSO=1
[2] Y. Sarkale and E. K. P. Chong, "Orchestrated management of heterogeneous sensors incorporating feedback from intelligence assets," presented at Orchestrated Resource Management Technical Exchange, Center for Multi-INT Studies, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, July 15--16, 2015.
[3] Y. Sarkale and E. K. P. Chong, "On the optimality of the greedy policy for the sequential scalar measurement problem in signal-plus-noise models," presented (poster) at the 2018 North-American School of Information Theory, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, May 20--23, 2018.
https://shannon.engr.tamu.edu/posters/
[4] S. Nozhati, B. R. Ellingwood, H. Mahmoud, Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, and N. Rosenheim, "An approximate dynamic programming approach to community recovery management," presented at the Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2018 (EMI 2018), Cambridge-Boston, MA, May 29--June 1, 2018. arXiv:1806.08492
[5] S. Nozhati, Y. Sarkale, B. R. Ellingwood, E. K. P. Chong, and H. Mahmoud, "A modified approximate dynamic programming algorithm for community-level food security following disasters," in Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software (iEMSs 2018), Fort Collins, CO, June 24--28, 2018.
[6] Y. Sarkale, S. Nozhati, E. K. P. Chong, B. R. Ellingwood, and H.
Mahmoud, "Solving Markov decision processes for network-level post-hazard recovery via simulation optimization and rollout," in Proceedings of the 14th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2018), Munich, Germany, August 20--24, 2018 (Invited paper).
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8560473
[7] B. Ellingwood, S. Nozhati, E. K. P. Chong, Y. Sarkale, J. van de Lindt, P. Gardoni, F. Nocera, N. Sharma,W. Peacock, N. Rosenheim, D.
Goldberg, and J. Kruse, "Scalable decision model to achieve local and regional resilience of interdependent critical infrastructure systems and communities," presented (poster) at the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes: A CRISP/RIPS Grantees Workshop, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, December 5--6, 2018.
[8] S. Nozhati, B. Ellingwood, H. Mahmoud, Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, and N. Rosenheim, "An approximate dynamic programming approach to community recovery assessment," presented at the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes: A CRISP/RIPS Grantees Workshop, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, December 5--6, 2018. (Session B3: We are in Control.)
https://civil.vse.gmu.edu/crisp/sessions.html#b3
[9] S. Nozhati, Y. Sarkale, B. R. Ellingwood, E. K. P. Chong, and H.
Mahmoud, "Near-optimal planning using approximate dynamic programming to enhance post-hazard community resilience management," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, vol. 181, pp. 116--126, January 2019. (The first two authors contributed equally and are listed alphabetically.)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832018305180
[10] S. Nozhati, Y. Sarkale, B. R. Ellingwood, E. K. P. Chong, and H.
Mahmoud, "A new approach to address food security issues after natural disasters," TechXplore, Feature Article, January 10, 2019.
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-01-approach-food-issues-natural-disasters.html
[11] Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, S. Nozhati, and B. R. Ellingwood, "A strong reinforcement learning approach for food security of communities post-hazard," presented (poster) at the ECE Grad Student Research Poster Session, ECE Graduate Student Visit Day, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, February 22, 2019.
[12] Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, S. Nozhati, and B. R. Ellingwood, "A strong reinforcement learning approach for food security of communities post-hazard," presented (poster) at the CSU Demo Day, Gold Poster Showcase, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, April 23, 2019.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/589a3b03725e250f863e8bd3/t/5cc879e2f9619ad23bf3dab1/1556642275298/DemoDay2019_Poster_CompanyShowcaseFinal.pdf
[13] S. Nozhati, Y. Sarkale, B. R. Ellingwood, E. K. P. Chong, and H.
Mahmoud, "An approximate dynamic programming approach to food security of communities following hazards," in 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP13), Seoul, South Korea, May 26-30, 2019.
http://s-space.snu.ac.kr/handle/10371/153966
[14] Y. Sarkale, S. Nozhati, E. K. P. Chong, and B. R. Ellingwood, "A parametric simulation optimization method for decision automation,"
presented at the 15th IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2019), Special Session on Simulation Optimization in New Information Age, Vancouver, Canada, August 22--26, 2019.
[15] P. R. Barbosa, Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, Y. Li, S. Suvorova, and W. Moran, "Controlled Tracking in Urban Terrain: Closing the Loop," Asian J Control, Special Issue: Recent Advances on Data Fusion, Estimation in Navigation and Control.
https://doi.org/10.1002/asjc.2083
[16] S. Nozhati, Y. Sarkale, E. K. P. Chong, and B. R. Ellingwood, "Optimal Stochastic Dynamic Scheduling for Managing Community Recovery from Natural Hazards," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, vol. 193, January 2020.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832018315588
[17] Y. Sarkale, S. Nozhati, E. K. P. Chong, and B. R. Ellingwood, "Decision automation for electric power network recovery," to be submitted to IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering.
Preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.00699


Program of Study:
GSTR 600 (ECE 514, ECE 520, ECE 612, ECE 652, ECE 656, ECE 681A1, ECE 695, MATH 460, MATH 560, MATH 561)
ECE 513
ECE 516
ECE 611
ECE 651
ECE 795
ECE 799
MATH 525 and GRAD 544