Robust Steady State Optimization with State Dependent Delays*

We propose an optimization method for parametrically uncertain delay differential equations with state dependent delays. It is the central idea of the approach to stay off critical boundaries in the parameter space at which stability or related properties are lost. The distance of the back-off can be specified by the user to reflect the parametric uncertainty of the model. As a result, dynamical properties such as stability can be guaranteed in spite of parametric uncertainties in the model in the optimization. We claim this is important, since a dynamical system is typically driven to its stability boundaries as a result of an optimization. We illustrate the method with a single-species growth model.