Optimizing Sensor Redundancy in Sequential Decision-Making Problems

Jonas Nüßlein, Maximilian Zorn, Fabian Ritz, Jonas Stein, Gerhard Stenzel, Julian Schönberger, Thomas Gabor, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

Abstract: Reinforcement Learning (RL) policies are designed to predict actions based on current observations to maximize cumulative future rewards. In real-world, i.e. not simulated, environments, sensors are essential for measuring the current state and providing the observations on which RL policies rely to make decisions. A significant challenge in deploying RL policies in real-world scenarios is handling sensor dropouts, which can result from hardware malfunctions, physical damage, or environmental factors like dust on a camera lens. A common strategy to mitigate this issue is to use backup sensors, though this comes with added costs. This paper explores the optimization of backup sensor configurations to maximize expected returns while keeping costs below a specified threshold, C. Our approach uses a second-order approximation of expected returns and includes penalties for exceeding cost constraints. The approach is evaluated across eight OpenAI Gym environments and a custom Unity-based r