runValueIte: Perform value iteration on the MDP.

In MDP2: Markov Decision Processes (MDPs)

Perform value iteration on the MDP.

Description

If the MDP has a finite time-horizon then arguments times and eps are ignored.

Usage

runValueIte(
  mdp,
  w,
  dur = NULL,
  rate = 0,
  rateBase = 1,
  discountFactor = NULL,
  maxIte = 100,
  eps = 1e-05,
  termValues = NULL,
  g = NULL,
  objective = c("max", "min"),
  bellmanOp = c("auto", "expected", "discount", "average", "min", "max", "secondMoment"),
  getLog = TRUE,
  discountMethod = "continuous"
)

Arguments

mdp	The MDP loaded using loadMDP().
w	The label of the weight we optimize.
dur	The label of the duration/time such that discount rates can be calculated.
rate	Interest rate.
rateBase	The time-horizon the rate is valid over.
discountFactor	The discount rate for one time unit. If specified rate and rateBase are not used to calculate the discount rate.
maxIte	The max number of iterations value iteration is performed.
eps	Stopping tolerance. If $max(w(t)-w(t+1)) < eps$ then stop the algorithm, i.e the policy becomes epsilon optimal (see Puterman p161).
termValues	The terminal values used (values of the last stage in the MDP).
g	Average weight. If specified then do a single iteration using the update equations under the average expected-weight Bellman operator with the specified g value.
objective	Optimize by maximizing ("max") or minimizing ("min") the Bellman value.
bellmanOp	Bellman operator. Use "auto" for existing behavior, "min" for the minimum-successor operator, "max" for the maximum-successor operator, or "secondMoment" for the second moment of total accumulated weight.
getLog	Output the log messages.
discountMethod	Either 'continuous' or 'discrete', corresponding to discount factor exp(-rate/rateBase) or 1/(1 + rate/rateBase), respectively. Only used if discountFactor is NULL.

Value

NULL (invisible)

References

Puterman, M. Markov Decision Processes, Wiley-Interscience, 1994.

Examples

## Set working dir
wd <- setwd(tempdir())

# Create the small machine repleacement problem used as an example in L.R. Nielsen and A.R.
# Kristensen. Finding the K best policies in a finite-horizon Markov decision process. European
# Journal of Operational Research, 175(2):1164-1179, 2006. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2005.06.011.

## Create the MDP using a dummy replacement node
prefix<-"machine1_"
w <- binaryMDPWriter(prefix)
w$setWeights(c("Net reward"))
w$process()
   w$stage()   # stage n=0
      w$state(label="Dummy")          # v=(0,0)
         w$action(label="buy", weights=-100, prob=c(1,0,0.7, 1,1,0.3), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=1
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(1,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.6, 1,1,0.4), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(1,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.6, 1,2,0.4), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=2
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(2,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.5, 1,1,0.5), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(2,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.5, 1,2,0.5), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="not working")    # v=(2,2)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=30, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=5, prob=c(1,3,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=3
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(3,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.2, 1,1,0.8), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(3,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.2, 1,2,0.8), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="not working")    # v=(3,2)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=30, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=5, prob=c(1,3,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="replaced")       # v=(3,3)
         w$action(label="Dummy", weights=0, prob=c(1,3,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=4
      w$state(label="good", end=TRUE)        # v=(4,0)
      w$state(label="average", end=TRUE)     # v=(4,1)
      w$state(label="not working", end=TRUE) # v=(4,2)
      w$state(label="replaced", end=TRUE)    # v=(4,3)
   w$endStage()
w$endProcess()
w$closeWriter()

## Load the model into memory
mdp<-loadMDP(prefix)
mdp
plot(mdp)

getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE)
getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action", asStringsActions = TRUE)
getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action", asStringsActions = FALSE)

## Perform value iteration
w<-"Net reward"             # label of the weight we want to optimize
scrapValues<-c(30,10,5,0)   # scrap values (the values of the 4 states at stage 4)
runValueIte(mdp, w, termValues=scrapValues)
getPolicy(mdp)     # optimal policy

## Calculate the weights of the policy always to maintain
library(magrittr)
policy <- getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action")$df %>% 
   dplyr::filter(label_action == "mt") %>% 
   dplyr::select(sId, aIdx)
setPolicy(mdp, policy)
runCalcWeights(mdp, w, termValues=scrapValues)
getPolicy(mdp)  



# The example given in L.R. Nielsen and A.R. Kristensen. Finding the K best
# policies in a finite-horizon Markov decision process. European Journal of
# Operational Research, 175(2):1164-1179, 2006. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2005.06.011,
# does actually not have any dummy replacement node as in the MDP above. The same
# model can be created using a single dummy node at the end of the process.

## Create the MDP using a single dummy node
prefix<-"machine2_"
w <- binaryMDPWriter(prefix)
w$setWeights(c("Net reward"))
w$process()
   w$stage()   # stage n=0
      w$state(label="Dummy")          # v=(0,0)
         w$action(label="buy", weights=-100, prob=c(1,0,0.7, 1,1,0.3), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=1
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(1,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.6, 1,1,0.4), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(1,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.6, 1,2,0.4), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=2
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(2,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.5, 1,1,0.5), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(2,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.5, 1,2,0.5), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="not working")    # v=(2,2)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=30, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=5, prob=c(3,12,1), end=TRUE) # transition to sId=12 (Dummy)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=3
      w$state(label="good")           # v=(3,0)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=55, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=70, prob=c(1,0,0.2, 1,1,0.8), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")        # v=(3,1)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=40, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="nmt", weights=50, prob=c(1,1,0.2, 1,2,0.8), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="not working")    # v=(3,2)
         w$action(label="mt", weights=30, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=5, prob=c(3,12,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=4
      w$state(label="good")        # v=(4,0)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=30, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="average")     # v=(4,1)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=10, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
      w$state(label="not working") # v=(4,2)
         w$action(label="rep", weights=5, prob=c(1,0,1), end=TRUE)
      w$endState()
   w$endStage()
   w$stage()   # stage n=5
      w$state(label="Dummy", end=TRUE)        # v=(5,0)
   w$endStage()
w$endProcess()
w$closeWriter()

## Have a look at the state-expanded hypergraph
mdp<-loadMDP(prefix)
mdp
plot(mdp)

getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE)
getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action", asStringsActions = TRUE)
getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action", asStringsActions = FALSE)

## Perform value iteration
w<-"Net reward"             # label of the weight we want to optimize
runValueIte(mdp, w, termValues = 0)
getPolicy(mdp)     # optimal policy

## Calculate the weights of the policy always to maintain
library(magrittr)
policy <- getInfo(mdp, withList = FALSE, dfLevel = "action")$df %>% 
   dplyr::filter(label_action == "mt") %>% 
   dplyr::select(sId, aIdx)
setPolicy(mdp, policy)
runCalcWeights(mdp, w, termValues=scrapValues)
getPolicy(mdp)  


## Reset working dir
setwd(wd)

MDP2 documentation built on June 13, 2026, 1:08 a.m.