arXiv subjects

Dimitra Panagou

Publications and source records attributed to Dimitra Panagou.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Safe and Robust Observer-Controller Synthesis using Control Barrier Functions

This paper addresses the synthesis of safety-critical controllers using estimate feedback. We propose an observer-controller interconnection to ensure that the nonlinear system remains safe despite bounded disturbances on the system dynamics and measurements that correspond to partial state information. The co-design of observers and controllers is critical, since even in undisturbed cases, observers and controllers designed independently may not render the system safe. We propose two approaches to synthesize observer-controller interconnections. The first approach utilizes Input-to-State Stable observers, and the second uses Bounded Error observers. Using these stability and boundedness properties of the observation error, we construct novel Control Barrier Functions that impose inequality constraints on the control inputs which, when satisfied, certifies safety. We propose quadratic program-based controllers to satisfy these constraints, and prove Lipschitz continuity of the derived controllers. Simulations and experiments on a quadrotor demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods.

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arXiv2022

Future-Focused Control Barrier Functions for Autonomous Vehicle Control

In this paper, we introduce a class of future-focused control barrier functions (ff-CBF) aimed at improving traditionally myopic CBF based control design and study their efficacy in the context of an unsignaled four-way intersection crossing problem for collections of both communicating and non-communicating autonomous vehicles. Our novel ff-CBF encodes that vehicles take control actions that avoid collisions predicted under a zero-acceleration policy over an arbitrarily long future time interval. In this sense the ff-CBF defines a virtual barrier, a loosening of which we propose in the form of a relaxed future-focused CBF (rff-CBF) that allows a relaxation of the virtual ff-CBF barrier far from the physical barrier between vehicles. We study the performance of ff-CBF and rff-CBF based controllers on communicating vehicles via a series of simulated trials of the intersection scenario, and in particular highlight how the rff-CBF based controller empirically outperforms a benchmark controller from the literature by improving intersection throughput while preserving safety and feasibility. Finally, we demonstrate our proposed ff-CBF control law on an intersection scenario in the laboratory environment with a collection of 5 non-communicating AION ground rovers.

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arXiv2022

Adaptation for Validation of a Consolidated Control Barrier Function based Control Synthesis

We develop a novel adaptation-based technique for safe control design in the presence of multiple control barrier function (CBF) constraints. Specifically, we introduce an approach for synthesizing any number of candidate CBFs into one consolidated CBF candidate, and propose a parameter adaptation law for the weights of its constituents such that the controllable dynamics of the consolidated CBF are non-vanishing. We then prove that the use of our adaptation law serves to certify the consolidated CBF candidate as valid for a class of nonlinear, control-affine, multi-agent systems, which permits its use in a quadratic program based control law. We highlight the success of our approach in simulation on a multi-robot goal-reaching problem in a crowded warehouse environment, and further demonstrate its efficacy experimentally in the laboratory via AION ground rovers operating amongst other vehicles behaving both aggressively and conservatively.

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arXiv2022

Predictive Control Barrier Functions for Online Safety Critical Control

This paper presents a methodology for constructing Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) that proactively consider the future safety of a system along a nominal trajectory, and effect corrective action before the trajectory leaves a designated safe set. Specifically, this paper presents a systematic approach for propagating a nominal trajectory on a receding horizon, and then encoding the future safety of this trajectory into a CBF. If the propagated trajectory is unsafe, then a controller satisfying the CBF condition will modify the nominal trajectory before the trajectory becomes unsafe. Compared to existing CBF techniques, this strategy is proactive rather than reactive and thus potentially results in smaller modifications to the nominal trajectory. The proposed strategy is shown to be provably safe, and then is demonstrated in simulated scenarios where it would otherwise be difficult to construct a traditional CBF. In simulation, the predictive CBF results in less modification to the nominal trajectory and smaller control inputs than a traditional CBF, and faster computations than a nonlinear model predictive control approach.

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arXiv2022

Adversary Detection and Resilient Control for Multi-Agent Systems

This paper presents an adversary detection mechanism and a resilient control framework for multi-agent systems under spatiotemporal constraints. Safety in multi-agent systems is typically addressed under the assumption that all agents collaborate to ensure the forward invariance of a desired safe set. This work analyzes agent behaviors based on certain behavior metrics, and designs a proactive adversary detection mechanism based on the notion of the critical region for the system operation. In particular, the presented detection mechanism not only identifies adversarial agents, but also ensures all-time safety for intact agents. Then, based on the analysis and detection results, a resilient QP-based controller is presented to ensure safety and liveness constraints for intact agents. Simulation results validate the efficacy of the presented theoretical contributions.

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arXiv2022

Recursive Feasibility Guided Optimal Parameter Adaptation of Differential Convex Optimization Policies for Safety-Critical Systems

Quadratic Program(QP) based state-feedback controllers, whose inequality constraints bound the rate of change of control barrier(CBFs) and lyapunov function with a class-$\mathcal{K}$ function of their values, are sensitive to the parameters of these class-$\mathcal{K}$ functions. The construction of valid CBFs, however, is not straightforward, and for arbitrarily chosen parameters of the QP, the system trajectories may enter states at which the QP either eventually becomes infeasible, or may not achieve desired performance. In this work, we pose the control synthesis problem as a differential policy whose parameters are optimized for performance over a time horizon at high level, thus resulting in a bi-level optimization routine. In the absence of knowledge of the set of feasible parameters, we develop a Recursive Feasibility Guided Gradient Descent approach for updating the parameters of QP so that the new solution performs at least as well as previous solution. By considering the dynamical system as a directed graph over time, this work presents a novel way of optimizing performance of a QP controller over a time horizon for multiple CBFs by (1) using the gradient of its solution with respect to its parameters by employing sensitivity analysis, and (2) backpropagating these as well as system dynamics gradients to update parameters while maintaining feasibility of QPs.

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arXiv2022

Trust-based Rate-Tunable Control Barrier Functions for Non-Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems

For efficient and robust task accomplishment in multi-agent systems, an agent must be able to distinguish cooperative agents from non-cooperative agents, i.e., uncooperative and adversarial agents. Task descriptions capturing safety and collaboration can often be encoded as Control Barrier Functions (CBFs). In this work, we first develop a trust metric that each agent uses to form its own belief of how cooperative other agents are. The metric is used to adjust the rate at which the CBFs allow the system trajectories to approach the boundaries of the safe region. Then, based on the presented notion of trust, we propose a Rate-Tunable CBF framework that leads to less conservative performance compared to an identity-agnostic implementation, where cooperative and non-cooperative agents are treated similarly. Finally, in presence of non-cooperating agents, we show the application of our control algorithm to heterogeneous multi-agent system through simulations.

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arXiv2021

Guaranteed Safe Spacecraft Docking with Control Barrier Functions

This paper presents a strategy for control of a spacecraft docking with a non-maneuvering target in the presence of safety constraints and bounded disturbances. The presence of disturbances prevents convergence to a unique docking state, so in our formulation, docking is defined as occurring within a set constructed using prescribed tolerances. Safety is ensured via application of Robust Control Barrier Functions to render a designated safe set forward invariant for any allowable disturbance. However, this safety strategy necessarily presumes a worst-case disturbance, and thus restricts trajectories to a subset of the safe set when a worst-case disturbance is not present. The presented controller accounts for this restriction, and guarantees that the spacecraft both remains safe and achieves docking in finite time for any allowable disturbance. The controller is then validated in simulation for a spacecraft landing on an asteroid, and two spacecraft docking in low Earth orbit.

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arXiv2021

High Relative Degree Control Barrier Functions Under Input Constraints

This paper presents methodologies for ensuring forward invariance of sublevel sets of constraint functions with high-relative-degree with respect to the system dynamics and in the presence of input constraints. We show that such constraint functions can be converted into special Zeroing Control Barrier Functions (ZCBFs), which, by construction, generate sufficient conditions for rendering the state always inside a sublevel set of the constraint function in the presence of input constraints. We present a general form for one such ZCBF, as well as a special case applicable to a specific class of systems. We conclude with a comparison of system trajectories under the two ZCBFs developed and prior literature, and a case study for an asteroid observation problem using quadratic-program based controllers to enforce the ZCBF condition.

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arXiv2021

Control Barrier Functions in Sampled-Data Systems

This paper presents conditions for ensuring forward invariance of safe sets under sampled-data system dynamics with piecewise-constant controllers and fixed time-steps. First, we introduce two different metrics to compare the conservativeness of sufficient conditions on forward invariance under piecewise-constant controllers. Then, we propose three approaches for guaranteeing forward invariance, two motivated by continuous-time barrier functions, and one motivated by discrete-time barrier functions. All proposed conditions are control affine, and thus can be incorporated into quadratic programs for control synthesis. We show that the proposed conditions are less conservative than those in earlier studies, and show via simulation how this enables the use of barrier functions that are impossible to implement with the desired time-step using existing methods.

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arXiv2021

Fixed-time Control under Spatiotemporal and Input Constraints: A Quadratic Program Based Approach

In this paper, we present a control synthesis framework for a general class of nonlinear, control-affine systems under spatiotemporal and input constraints. First, we study the problem of fixed-time convergence in the presence of input constraints. The relation between the domain of attraction for fixed-time stability with respect to input constraints and the required time of convergence is established. It is shown that increasing the control authority or the required time of convergence can expand the domain of attraction for fixed-time stability. Then, we consider the problem of finding a control input that confines the closed-loop system trajectories in a safe set and steers them to a goal set within a fixed time. To this end, we present a Quadratic Program (QP) formulation to compute the corresponding control input. We use slack variables to guarantee feasibility of the proposed QP under input constraints. Furthermore, when strict complementary slackness holds, we show that the solution of the QP is a continuous function of the system states, and establish uniqueness of closed-loop solutions to guarantee forward invariance using Nagumo's theorem. We present two case studies, an example of adaptive cruise control problem and an instance of a two-robot motion planning problem, to corroborate our proposed methods.

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arXiv2021

Robust Control Barrier and Control Lyapunov Functions with Fixed-Time Convergence Guarantees

This paper studies control synthesis for a general class of nonlinear, control-affine dynamical systems under additive disturbances and state-estimation errors. We enforce forward invariance of static and dynamic safe sets and convergence to a given goal set within a user-defined time in the presence of input constraints. We use robust variants of control barrier functions (CBF) and fixed-time control Lyapunov functions (FxT-CLF) to incorporate a class of additive disturbances in the system dynamics, and state-estimation errors. To solve the underlying constrained control problem, we formulate a quadratic program and use the proposed robust CBF-FxT-CLF conditions to compute the control input. We showcase the efficacy of the proposed method on a numerical case study involving multiple underactuated marine vehicles.

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arXiv2021

Characterization of Domain of Fixed-time Stability under Control Input Constraints

In this paper, we study the effect of control input constraints on the domain of attraction of an FxTS equilibrium point. We first present a new result on FxTS, where we allow a positive term in the time derivative of the Lyapunov function. We provide analytical expressions for the domain of attraction and the settling time to the equilibrium in terms of the coefficients of the positive and negative terms that appear in the time derivative of the Lyapunov function. We show that this result serves as a robustness characterization of FxTS equilibria in the presence of an additive, vanishing disturbances. We use the new FxTS result in formulating a provably feasible quadratic program (QP) that computes control inputs that drive the trajectories of a class of nonlinear, control-affine systems to a goal set, in the presence of control input constraints.

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arXiv2021

Herding an Adversarial Swarm in Three-dimensional Spaces

This paper presents a defense approach to safeguard a protected area against an attack by a swarm of adversarial agents in three-dimensional (3D) space. We extend our 2D `StringNet Herding' approach, in which a closed formation of string-barriers is established around the adversarial swarm to confine their motion and herd them to a safe area, to 3D spaces by introducing 3D-StringNet. 3D-StringNet is a closed 3D formation of triangular net-like barriers. We provide a systematic approach to generate three types of 3D formations that are used in the 3D herding process and modifications to the finite-time convergent control laws developed in \cite{chipade2020swarmherding} that are required for a 3D environment. Furthermore, for given initial positions of the defenders, we provide conditions on the initial positions of the attackers for which the defenders are guaranteed to gather as a specified formation at a position on the shortest path of the attackers to the protected area before attackers reach there.

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arXiv2021

Safe Control Synthesis via Input Constrained Control Barrier Functions

This paper introduces the notion of an Input Constrained Control Barrier Function (ICCBF), as a method to synthesize safety-critical controllers for non-linear control affine systems with input constraints. The method identifies a subset of the safe set of states, and constructs a controller to render the subset forward invariant. The feedback controller is represented as the solution to a quadratic program, which can be solved efficiently for real-time implementation. Furthermore, we show that ICCBFs are a generalization of Higher Order Control Barrier Functions, and thus are applicable to systems of non-uniform relative degree. Simulation results are presented for the adaptive cruise control problem, and a spacecraft rendezvous problem.

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arXiv2021

Multi-rate Control Design under Input Constraints via Fixed-Time Barrier Functions

In this paper, we introduce the notion of periodic safety, which requires that the system trajectories periodically visit a subset of a forward-invariant safe set, and utilize it in a multi-rate framework where a high-level planner generates a reference trajectory that is tracked by a low-level controller under input constraints. We introduce the notion of fixed-time barrier functions which is leveraged by the proposed low-level controller in a quadratic programming framework. Then, we design a model predictive control policy for high-level planning with a bound on the rate of change for the reference trajectory to guarantee that periodic safety is achieved. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy on a simulation example, where the proposed fixed-time stabilizing low-level controller shows successful satisfaction of control objectives, whereas an exponentially stabilizing low-level controller fails.

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arXiv2021

Adversarial Resilience for Sampled-Data Systems under High-Relative-Degree Safety Constraints

Control barrier functions (CBFs) have recently become a powerful method for rendering desired safe sets forward invariant in single- and multi-agent systems. In the multi-agent case, prior literature has considered scenarios where all agents cooperate to ensure that the corresponding set remains invariant. However, these works do not consider scenarios where a subset of the agents are behaving adversarially with the intent to violate safety bounds. In addition, prior results on multi-agent CBFs typically assume that control inputs are continuous and do not consider sampled-data dynamics. This paper presents a framework for normally-behaving agents in a multi-agent system with heterogeneous control-affine, sampled-data dynamics to render a safe set forward invariant in the presence of adversarial agents. The proposed approach considers several aspects of practical control systems including input constraints, clock asynchrony and disturbances, and distributed calculation of control inputs. Our approach also considers functions describing safe sets having high relative degree with respect to system dynamics. The efficacy of these results are demonstrated through simulations.

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arXiv2020

A Fixed-Time Stable Adaptation Law for Safety-Critical Control under Parametric Uncertainty

We present a novel technique for solving the problem of safe control for a general class of nonlinear, control-affine systems subject to parametric model uncertainty. Invoking Lyapunov analysis and the notion of fixed-time stability (FxTS), we introduce a parameter adaptation law which guarantees convergence of the estimates of unknown parameters in the system dynamics to their true values within a fixed-time independent of the initial parameter estimation error. We then synthesize the adaptation law with a robust, adaptive control barrier function (RaCBF) based quadratic program to compute safe control inputs despite the considered model uncertainty. To corroborate our results, we undertake a comparative case study on the efficacy of this result versus other recent approaches in the literature to safe control under uncertainty, and close by highlighting the value of our method in the context of an automobile overtake scenario.

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