arXiv AI

Contextual Quality-Diversity Evolutionary Reinforcement Learning for HVAC Control in Tropical Commercial Buildings

arXiv:2608. 11324v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This paper proposes a contextual quality-diversity evolutionary reinforcement-learning controller, CQD-ERL, for the supervisory control of a tropical, water-cooled chiller plant and its associated air side.

arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 10

Generalizing HVAC Control With Domain Randomized Reinforcement Learning

The paper introduces NOMAD‑RL, a reinforcement learning controller for HVAC systems that learns to adapt across diverse thermal zones via a universal thermostat interface. It employs an adaptive domain randomization scheme using physics‑informed normalizing flows to generate realistic, multimodal training data, enabling the recurrent policy to handle partial observability. Experiments show NOMAD‑RL outperforms constant‑setpoint PID and non‑randomized RL, and rivals well‑tuned model predictive control, especially in multi‑zone scenarios.

By Pablo Boitel, Kun Zhang
arXiv AI
Jul 21

Building2Building: A Large Scale Benchmark for Generalizable Real-World Reinforcement Learning

arXiv:2607. 16534v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) has achieved strong results in control, yet learned policies remain brittle to changes in dynamics, action spaces, observation spaces, or goals, a critical limitation for real-world deployment.

By Vincent Taboga, Justin Veilleux, Doseok Jang, Anushree Rankawat, Pierre-Luc Bacon
arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 20

Comparative Field Deployment of Reinforcement Learning and Model Predictive Control for Residential HVAC

arXiv:2510. 01475v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Model Predictive Control (MPC) has demonstrated significant performance improvements over today's control methods for residential Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), but deploying MPC often requires substantial engineering effort.

By Ozan Baris Mulayim, Elias N. Pergantis, Levi D. Reyes Premer, Bingqing Chen, Guannan Qu, Kevin J. Kircher, Mario Berg\'es
arXiv AI
Jun 2

Explainable Data-driven Deep Reinforcement Learning Methods for Optimal Energy Management in Buildings

arXiv:2606. 02049v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The increasing integration of renewable energy sources into power systems, particularly in buildings equipped with photovoltaic (PV) panels and energy storage systems, introduces significant complexity in energy systems.

By Hallah Shahid Butt, Qiong Huang, G\"okhan Demirel, Kevin F\"orderer, Erfan Tajalli-Ardekani, Simnon Waczowicz, Luigi Spatafora, Veit Hagenmeyer, Benjamin Sch\"afer
arXiv AI
Aug 24

From Thermal Preference Prediction to Adaptive Thermal Intervention: A Reinforcement Learning Approach Using Physiological and Environmental Sensing

The paper proposes a two-stage personalized thermal comfort system that combines multimodal physiological and environmental sensing with reinforcement learning for decision-making. It aims to move beyond static HVAC setpoints and generic comfort models by tailoring thermal interventions to individual physiological variability. The approach seeks to improve occupant wellbeing and enable more responsive building-control strategies.

By Isibor Kennedy Ihianle, Emmanuel Manu, Ehsan Asnaashari, Mojgan Jadidi, Pedro Machado, Amrit Sagoo, Ahmad Lotfi
arXiv AI
Aug 26

Reinforcement Learning-Guided Evolutionary Policy Optimization for Preference-Adjustable Heterogeneous Agile Earth Observation Satellite Scheduling

The paper introduces a reinforcement‑learning‑guided evolutionary policy optimization framework for scheduling heterogeneous agile Earth observation satellites, addressing task selection, satellite assignment, and sequencing under diverse visibility windows, maneuvering constraints, energy use, and storage limits. It combines assignment‑based indirect encoding with decoder‑based cost evaluation to capture satellite‑dependent constraints while integrating task gain, energy savings, and load balance into a single utility metric. The resulting RLOSMEA algorithm uses reinforcement learning to select high‑level search operators, achieving higher weighted utility and more stable convergence than baseline metaheuristics across varied AEOS scenarios.

By He Wang, Junyu Wu, Hui Li, Yanjie Song, Witold Pedrycz, Liang Li