Ensemble Gaussian Processes with Spectral Features for Online Interactive Learning with Scalability

Abstract

Combining benefits of kernels with Bayesian models, Gaussian process (GP) based approaches have well-documented merits not only in learning over a rich class of nonlinear functions, but also quantifying the associated uncertainty. While most GP approaches rely on a single preselected prior, the present work employs a weighted ensemble of GP priors, each having a unique covariance (kernel) belonging to a prescribed kernel dictionary – which leads to a richer space of learning functions. Leveraging kernel approximants formed by spectral features for scalability, an online interactive ensemble (OI-E) GP framework is developed to jointly learn the sought function, and for the first time select interactively the EGP kernel on-the-fly. Performance of OI-EGP is benchmarked by the best fixed function estimator via regret analysis. Furthermore, the novel OI-EGP is adapted to accommodate dynamic learning functions. Synthetic and real data tests demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.