Towards the portability of knowledge in reinforcement learning-based systems for automatic drone navigation.

In the field of artificial intelligence (AI) one of the main challenges today is to make the knowledge acquired when performing a certain task in a given scenario applicable to similar yet different tasks to be performed with a certain degree of precision in other environments. This idea of knowledge portability is of great use in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) that face important challenges in terms of reliability and autonomy. This article presents a CPS where unmanned vehicles (drones) are equipped with a reinforcement learning system so they may automatically learn to perform various navigation tasks in environments with physical obstacles. The implemented system is capable of isolating the agents' knowledge and transferring it to other agents that do not have prior knowledge of their environment so they may successfully navigate environments with obstacles. A complete study has been performed to ascertain the degree to which the knowledge obtained by an agent in a scenario may be successfully transferred to other agents in order to perform tasks in other scenarios without prior knowledge of the same, obtaining positive results in terms of the success rate and learning time required to complete the task set in each case. In particular, those two indicators showed better results (higher success rate and lower learning time) with our proposal compared to the baseline in 47 out of the 60 tests conducted (78.3%).

A Reinforcement Learning Model Equipped with Sensors for Generating Perception Patterns: Implementation of a Simulated Air Navigation System Using ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) Technology.

Over the last few decades, a number of reinforcement learning techniques have emerged, and different reinforcement learning-based applications have proliferated. However, such techniques tend to specialize in a particular field. This is an obstacle to their generalization and extrapolation to other areas. Besides, neither the reward-punishment (r-p) learning process nor the convergence of results is fast and efficient enough. To address these obstacles, this research proposes a general reinforcement learning model. This model is independent of input and output types and based on general bioinspired principles that help to speed up the learning process. The model is composed of a perception module based on sensors whose specific perceptions are mapped as perception patterns. In this manner, similar perceptions (even if perceived at different positions in the environment) are accounted for by the same perception pattern. Additionally, the model includes a procedure that statistically associates perception-action pattern pairs depending on the positive or negative results output by executing the respective action in response to a particular perception during the learning process. To do this, the model is fitted with a mechanism that reacts positively or negatively to particular sensory stimuli in order to rate results. The model is supplemented by an action module that can be configured depending on the maneuverability of each specific agent. The model has been applied in the air navigation domain, a field with strong safety restrictions, which led us to implement a simulated system equipped with the proposed model. Accordingly, the perception sensors were based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, which is described in this paper. The results were quite satisfactory, and it outperformed traditional methods existing in the literature with respect to learning reliability and efficiency.