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Signal control has been effective to alleviate urban traffic congestion. Massive related works about signal timing optimization have been proposed and led to many signal control methods and systems. In recent years, reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms have attracted the increasing attention of researchers in the area of signal control optimization, since they can learn the optimal timing policy themselves by analyzing changing patterns between the traffic condition and signal timing plans. Multi-intersection traffic signal control problems face more challenges than classical single intersection problems such as the dimensionality issue as the joint action space of multiple agents grows exponentially with the number of intersections. The existing state-of-art multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithms developed for other areas may not suit well with traffic signal control given the complex spatial–temporal nature of traffic flows. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-agent counterfactual actor–critic with scheduler (MACS) framework for multiple interactions. In this method, decentralized actors control the traffic signals and the centralized critic combines recurrent policies with feed-forward critics. Additionally, a scheduler module that exchanges information among agents helps the individual agent better understand the entire environment. The proposed method was evaluated using simulation experiments based on a real-world urban street network in Shenzhen, China. Results showed that the proposed method outperforms the classic model-based method and several existing RL-based methods according to different measures such as queue length, average travel time delay, and throughput. • Develop an AI-based signal control framework to collaborate multiple intersections. • The counterfactual baseline can well assign the credit among multiple intersections. • The scheduler module helps agents better understand the entire environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses how physical knowledge can improve machine learning in process control. A data-driven tracking control framework using physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed for dynamical systems, which is particularly important when iterations or repetitions of data collection experiments are limited or even not allowed. An indirect control approach is followed to accomplish this. First, a new process model is identified using PINNs trained from a model representing the experimental data collected from the plant. Then, the DRL-based control agent utilizes the identified PINN model to deliver an offline policy. We evaluate our framework for data-driven tracking control of nonisothermal CSTR, considering measurement noise and stochastic dynamics for closed-loop control. Our approach performed comparably to an NMPC without requiring a model to predict the process dynamics. • Physical knowledge was implemented to improve machine learning. • A indirect data-driven control approach was developed. • Physics-informed neural networks and deep reinforcement learning are combined. • The developed framework was tested against nonlinear model predictive control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]