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Thu Dec 06 01:40 PM -- 01:45 PM (PST) @ Room 517 CD
Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Kalman Filtering
Soroosh Shafieezadeh Abadeh · Viet Anh Nguyen · Daniel Kuhn · Peyman Mohajerin Esfahani

We study a distributionally robust mean square error estimation problem over a nonconvex Wasserstein ambiguity set containing only normal distributions. We show that the optimal estimator and the least favorable distribution form a Nash equilibrium. Despite the non-convex nature of the ambiguity set, we prove that the estimation problem is equivalent to a tractable convex program. We further devise a Frank-Wolfe algorithm for this convex program whose direction-searching subproblem can be solved in a quasi-closed form. Using these ingredients, we introduce a distributionally robust Kalman filter that hedges against model risk.