Less is More: Contextual Sampling for Nonlinear Data-Driven Predictive Control
Julius Beerwerth and Bassam Alrifaee · University of the Bundeswehr Munich
ECC 2026 (submitted) Videos & Results

Abstract

Contextual Sampling is a adaptive data selection strategy for Data-driven Predictive Control (DPC) that selects the most relevant trajectories given the current state and reference. By shrinking the working set while preserving representativeness, it improves conditioning and reduces solve time, enabling real-time control on nonlinear robotic platforms.

Experiments on a scaled autonomous vehicle and a quadrotor show that Contextual Sampling achieves comparable or better tracking than Random Sampling and Select-DPC at lower computational cost.

Vehicle Experiments — Side-by-Side by Trajectory Count

Compare Contextual, Select-DPC, and Random for the same number of trajectories on the vehicle platform.

Trajectories = 30

Contextual

Select-DPC

Random

Trajectories = 60

Contextual

Select-DPC

Random

Trajectories = 90

Contextual

Select-DPC

Random

Drone Experiments — Side-by-Side by Trajectory Count

Compare Contextual, Select-DPC, and Random for the same number of trajectories.

Trajectories = 40

Contextual (traj40, seed1)

Select-DPC (traj40, seed3)

Random (traj40, seed0)

Trajectories = 70

Contextual (traj70, seed1)

Select-DPC (traj70, seed3)

Random (traj70, seed1)

Trajectories = 100

Contextual (traj100, seed2)

Select-DPC (traj100, seed0)

Random (traj100, seed4)

Scaled Vehicle Demo

Watch the demonstration of Contextual Sampling applied to a scaled autonomous vehicle.

Code

The research code for Contextual Sampling, including all experiments for the paper, is publicly available on GitHub: