Joshua L. Pulsipher

Evelyn Gondosiswanto, Joshua L. Pulsipher

In this paper, we present a GPU-accelerated framework for nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) based on direct transcription and second-order interior-point methods. Many real-world systems exhibit nonlinear dynamics that cannot be accurately captured by linear models, motivating the use of NMPC. However, NMPC requires the repeated real-time solution of optimal control problems (OCP), which become computationally demanding large-scale nonlinear programs (NLPs) after transcription. Although GPU acceleration has emerged as a promising approach for nonlinear optimization, existing GPU-based NMPC workflows reconstruct structurally identical OCPs at each solve. This introduces substantial overhead even though successive solves differ only through updated system measurements or reference trajectories. To address this limitation, we introduce a parametric interior-point formulation that exploits the fixed structure of transcribed OCPs, enabling reuse of structure-dependent computations (e.g., symbolic factorization in sparse Cholesky) across re-solves. We evaluate the proposed framework on distillation column and 2D heated plate benchmarks against state-of-the-art CPU and GPU configurations. The results show that the framework achieves over an order-of-magnitude speedup in total NMPC run times. These improvements are primarily driven by reduced per-iteration solve times, with GPU execution achieving up to a 94% reduction compared to the baseline. Overall, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of exploiting repeated problem structure in GPU-accelerated NMPC and highlight the potential of the proposed framework to expand the envelope of real-time NMPC applications.

Shengli Jiang, Shiyi Qin, Joshua L. Pulsipher et al.

We discuss basic concepts of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and outline uses in manufacturing. We begin by discussing how different types of data objects commonly encountered in manufacturing (e.g., time series, images, micrographs, videos, spectra, molecular structures) can be represented in a flexible manner using tensors and graphs. We then discuss how CNNs use convolution operations to extract informative features (e.g., geometric patterns and textures) from the such representations to predict emergent properties and phenomena and/or to identify anomalies. We also discuss how CNNs can exploit color as a key source of information, which enables the use of modern computer vision hardware (e.g., infrared, thermal, and hyperspectral cameras). We illustrate the concepts using diverse case studies arising in spectral analysis, molecule design, sensor design, image-based control, and multivariate process monitoring.

Joshua L. Pulsipher, Luke D. J. Coutinho, Tyler A. Soderstrom et al.

We present a novelty detection framework for Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) sensors that we call Sensor-Activated Feature Extraction One-Class Classification (SAFE-OCC). We show that this framework enables the safe use of computer vision sensors in process control architectures. Emergent control applications use CNN models to map visual data to a state signal that can be interpreted by the controller. Incorporating such sensors introduces a significant system operation vulnerability because CNN sensors can exhibit high prediction errors when exposed to novel (abnormal) visual data. Unfortunately, identifying such novelties in real-time is nontrivial. To address this issue, the SAFE-OCC framework leverages the convolutional blocks of the CNN to create an effective feature space to conduct novelty detection using a desired one-class classification technique. This approach engenders a feature space that directly corresponds to that used by the CNN sensor and avoids the need to derive an independent latent space. We demonstrate the effectiveness of SAFE-OCC via simulated control environments.