Computationally efficient Gauss-Newton reinforcement learning for model predictive control

Abstract: Model predictive control (MPC) is widely used in process control due to its interpretability and ability to handle constraints. As a parametric policy in reinforcement learning (RL), MPC offers strong initial performance and low data requirements compared to black-box policies like neural networks. However, most RL methods rely on first-order updates, which scale well to large parameter spaces but converge at most linearly, making them inefficient when each policy update requires solving an optimal control problem, as is the case with MPC. While MPC policies are typically sparsely parameterized and thus amenable to second-order approaches, existing second-order methods demand second-order policy derivatives, which can be computationally and memory-wise intractable. This work introduces a Gauss-Newton approximation of the deterministic policy Hessian that eliminates the need for second-order policy derivatives, enabling superlinear convergence with minimal computational overhead. To further improve robustness, we propose a momentum-based Hessian averaging scheme for stable training under noisy estimates. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach on a nonlinear continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), showing faster convergence and improved data efficiency over state-of-the-art first-order methods.