IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol.51, No.4, 635-638, 2006
Robustness of policies in constrained Markov decision processes
We consider the optimization of finite-state, finite-action Markov decision processes (MDPs), under constraints. Cost and constraints are discounted. We introduce a new method for investigating the continuity, and a certain type of robustness, of the optimal cost and the optimal policy under changes in the constraints. This method is also applicable for other cost criteria such as finite horizon and infinite horizon average cost.
Keywords:constrained Markov decision process (MDP);discounted cost;Markov decision processes;robustness;sensitivity