Stochastic Approximation: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint
Stochastic Approximation: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint
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DOI:
10.1007/978-93-86279-38-5
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发表时间:
2008-09
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影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
V. Borkar
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
V. Borkar
Stochastic approximation was introduced in a 1951 article in the Annals of Mathematical Statistics by Robbins and Monro. Originally conceived as a tool for statistical computation, an area in which it retains a place of pride, it has come to thrive in a totally different discipline, viz., that of engineering. The entire area of ‘adaptive signal processing’in communication engineering has been dominated by stochastic approximation algorithms and variants, as is evident from even a cursory look at any standard text on the subject. Then there are more recent applications to adaptive resource allocation problems in communication networks. In control engineering too, stochastic approximation is the main paradigm for on-line algorithms for system identification and adaptive control.This is not accidental. The key word in most of these applications is adaptive. Stochastic approximation has several intrinsic traits that make it an attractive framework for adaptive schemes. It is designed for uncertain (read ‘stochastic’) environments, where it allows one to track the ‘average’or ‘typical’behaviour of such an environment. It is incremental, ie, it makes small changes in each step, which ensures a graceful behaviour of the algorithm. This is a highly desirable feature of any adaptive scheme. Furthermore, it usually has low computational and memory requirements per iterate, another desirable feature of adaptive systems. Finally, it conforms to our anthropomorphic notion of adaptation: It makes small adjustments so as to improve a certain performance criterion based on feedback received from the environment.