A max-plus method for the approximate solution of discrete time linear regulator problems with non-quadratic terminal payoff

Efficient Riccati equation based techniques for the approximate solution of discrete time linear regulator problems are restricted in their application to problems with quadratic terminal payoffs. Where non-quadratic terminal payoffs are required, these techniques fail due to the attendant nonquadratic value functions involved. In order to compute these non-quadratic value functions, it is often necessary to appeal directly to dynamic programming in the form of gridor element-based iterations for the value function. These iterations suffer from poor scalability with respect to problem dimension and time horizon. In this paper, a new max-plus based method is developed for the approximate solution of discrete time linear regulator problems with non-quadratic payoffs.