  This work studies how an AI-controlled dog-fighting agent with tunable
decision-making parameters can learn to optimize performance against an
intelligent adversary, as measured by a stochastic objective function evaluated
on simulated combat engagements. Gaussian process Bayesian optimization (GPBO)
techniques are developed to automatically learn global Gaussian Process (GP)
surrogate models, which provide statistical performance predictions in both
explored and unexplored areas of the parameter space. This allows a learning
engine to sample full-combat simulations at parameter values that are most
likely to optimize performance and also provide highly informative data points
for improving future predictions. However, standard GPBO methods do not provide
a reliable surrogate model for the highly volatile objective functions found in
aerial combat, and thus do not reliably identify global maxima. These issues
are addressed by novel Repeat Sampling (RS) and Hybrid Repeat/Multi-point
Sampling (HRMS) techniques. Simulation studies show that HRMS improves the
accuracy of GP surrogate models, allowing AI decision-makers to more accurately
predict performance and efficiently tune parameters.

Machine Learning;Artificial Intelligence;Robotics;Machine Learning