- Research Article
- 10.32620/aktt.2026.2.12
Safe deep reinforcement learning method for guaranteed compliance with physical constraints in autonomous energy systems of critical infrastructure (a case study of healthcare facilities)
- Apr 22, 2026
- Aerospace Technic and Technology
- Maksym Kushnarov
The study examines the complex processes of intelligent management of energy resilience in modern healthcare facilities during critical situations, large-scale failures, and prolonged outages of the external centralized power supply. The aim is to develop a comprehensive mathematical model and a Safe Deep Reinforcement Learning (Safe DRL) method that ensures guaranteed compliance with the strict physical and operational constraints of hospital energy systems, even during the intensive training phase of a neural network agent. The objectives are: to formalize in detail the decision-making procedure in an energy system in detail by transitioning to the paradigm of Constrained Markov Decision Processes (CMDP); to develop an innovative mathematical model featuring the implementation of a specialized safety layer based on Lyapunov functions; and to ensure high resilience and autonomy of the system through the implementation of a decentralized Edge-Fog data processing architecture. The methods used include: the theory of Constrained Markov Decision Processes (CMDP), deep reinforcement learning methods based on the Actor-Critic architecture, the mathematical apparatus of Lyapunov stability theory for the analytical correction of actions, and methods of simulation modeling for complex dynamic energy systems. The following results were obtained. In the course of the study, a Safe DRL method was proposed and substantiated, which integrates a Lyapunov-based projection directly into the training loop for the immediate correction of the agent’s control actions. This makes it possible to ensure strict theoretical guarantees of maintaining the required State of Charge (SoC) of battery systems and to prevent critical violations of energy system parameters beyond established safety limits, which is crucial for patient life-support. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was confirmed by a series of numerical experiments in the specialized environment, HospitalEnergyEnv. Under a full blackout scenario, the agent demonstrated adaptability and high accuracy in resource management without any violation of the established physical limits during the entire process of autonomous operation. Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the following: the existing optimization model for building energy management systems (BEMS) has been improved by introducing an analytical safety projection mechanism, which minimizes the risks of emergency equipment shutdown during the adaptation of artificial intelligence algorithms; further development of decentralized control methods for critical infrastructure based on Edge-Fog computing has been achieved, which significantly increases system fault tolerance in the event of a loss of connection with the global network and ensures obtaining quasi-optimal solutions in high-dimensional problems. The practical value of this work lies in the potential to create highly reliable autonomous energy systems for critical infrastructure facilities.
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