arXiv subjects

Miroslav Krstić

Publications and source records attributed to Miroslav Krstić.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Lyapunov Constructions for System Interconnections Arising from Adaptation in Some Optimization Methods

Interconnected systems have been widely studied, with a focus on interconnected systems whose subsystems are solely input-to-state stable (ISS) or passive systems. The focus of this work is on the interconnected systems that appear in adaptive gradient methods. In adaptive gradient methods, one subsystem seeks to move parameters of a cost function towards a minimizer while the other subsystem works to estimate some derivative information about the cost function to help determine the direction of the parameter update. This work studies instances of such interconnected systems and gives various Lyapunov function constructions for them using different techniques. Global asymptotic stability (GAS) of adaptive gradient optimizers follows from small-gain theory; the Lyapunov functions constructed here certify it explicitly.

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arXiv2026

Boundary adaptive observer design for semilinear hyperbolic rolling contact ODE-PDE systems with uncertain friction

This paper presents an adaptive observer design for semilinear hyperbolic rolling contact ODE-PDE systems with uncertain friction characteristics parameterized by a matrix of unknown coefficients appearing in the nonlinear (and possibly non-smooth) PDE source terms. Under appropriate assumptions of forward completeness and boundary sensing, an adaptive observer is synthesized to simultaneously estimate the lumped and distributed states, as well as the uncertain friction parameters, using only boundary measurements. The observer combines a finite-dimensional parameter estimator with an infinite-dimensional description of the state error dynamics, and achieves exponential convergence under persistent excitation. The effectiveness of the proposed design is demonstrated in simulation by considering a relevant example borrowed from road vehicle dynamics.

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arXiv2026

Stability and stabilization of semilinear single-track vehicle models with distributed tire friction dynamics via singular perturbation analysis

This paper investigates the stability and stabilization of semilinear single-track vehicle models with distributed tire friction dynamics, modeled as interconnections of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs). Motivated by the long-standing practice of neglecting transient tire dynamics in vehicle modeling and control, a rigorous justification is provided for such simplifications using singular perturbation theory. A perturbation parameter, defined as the ratio between a characteristic rolling contact length and the vehicle's longitudinal speed, is introduced to formalize the time-scale separation between rigid-body motion and tire dynamics. For sufficiently small values of this parameter, it is demonstrated that standard finite-dimensional techniques can be applied to analyze the local stability of equilibria and to design stabilizing controllers. Whilst the proposed controllers build on classical approaches, the novelty of this work lies in establishing the first singular perturbation framework for ODE-PDE vehicle models with distributed tire dynamics, providing a theoretical justification for their quasi-static reduction and for the use of finite-dimensional tools for analysis and control design.

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arXiv2026

Passivity-exploiting stabilization of semilinear single-track vehicle models with distributed tire friction dynamics

This paper addresses the local stabilization problem for semilinear single-track vehicle models with distributed tire friction dynamics, represented as interconnections of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs). A passivity-exploiting backstepping design is presented, which leverages the strict dissipativity properties of the PDE subsystem to achieve exponential stabilization of the considered ODE-PDE interconnection around a prescribed equilibrium. Sufficient conditions for local well-posedness and exponential convergence are derived by constructing a Lyapunov functional combining the lumped and distributed states. Both state-feedback and output-feedback controllers are synthesized, the latter relying on a cascaded observer. The theoretical results are corroborated with numerical simulations, considering non-ideal scenarios and accounting for external disturbances and uncertainties. Simulation results confirm that the proposed control strategy can effectively and robustly stabilize oversteer vehicles at high speeds, demonstrating the relevance of the approach for improving the safety and performance in automotive applications.

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arXiv2026

Event-Triggered Discrete-Time Multivariable Extremum Seeking Systems

This paper introduces a discrete-time event-triggered extremum seeking framework for real-time optimization of multivariable nonlinear systems. In contrast to conventional discrete-time extremum seeking implementations that rely on periodic input updates, the proposed scheme updates the control action only when a state-dependent triggering condition is met, enabling aperiodic execution and substantial reduction of actuation and communication effort. The resulting closed-loop architecture reconciles two structurally different paradigms: the periodic excitation required for gradient recovery in extremum seeking and the aperiodic philosophy of event-triggered control. By combining discrete-time averaging arguments with Lyapunov-based analysis, we prove practical convergence of the system trajectories to a neighborhood of the unknown extremum and exponential stability of the corresponding average dynamics despite the loss of uniform sampling. The results show that appropriately designed triggering rules preserve the essential optimization mechanisms of classical extremum seeking while drastically reducing the number of input updates. Numerical simulations demonstrate that comparable optimization performance can be achieved with significantly fewer actuation events, highlighting the suitability of the method for resource-aware digital and networked control implementations.

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arXiv2026

Discrete-Time Event-Triggered Extremum Seeking

This paper proposes a discrete-time event-triggered extremum seeking control scheme for real-time optimization of nonlinear systems. Unlike conventional discrete-time implementations relying on periodic updates, the proposed approach updates the control input only when a state-dependent triggering condition is satisfied, reducing unnecessary actuation and communication. The resulting closed-loop system combines extremum seeking with an event-triggering mechanism that adaptively determines the input update instants. Using discrete-time averaging and Lyapunov analysis, we establish practical convergence of the trajectories to a neighborhood of the unknown extremum point and show exponential stability of the associated average dynamics. The proposed method preserves the optimization capability of classical extremum seeking while significantly reducing the number of input updates. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the approach for resource-aware real-time optimization.

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arXiv2026

Nested Extremum Seeking Converges to Stackelberg Equilibrium

The nested Extremum Seeking (nES) algorithm is a model-free optimization method that has been shown to converge to a neighborhood of a Nash equilibrium. In this work, we demonstrate that the same nES dynamics can instead be made to converge to a neighborhood of a Stackelberg (leader--follower) equilibrium by imposing a different scaling law on the algorithm's design parameters. For the two--level nested case, using Lie--bracket averaging and singular perturbation arguments, we provide a rigorous stability proof showing semi-global practical asymptotic convergence to a Stackelberg equilibrium under appropriate time-scale separation. The results reveal that equilibrium selection, Nash versus Stackelberg, depends not on modifying the closed-loop dynamics, but on the hierarchical scaling of design parameters and the induced time-scale structure. We demonstrate this effect using a simple quadratic example and the canonical Fish War game. The Stackelberg variant of nES provides a model-free framework for hierarchical optimization in multi-time-scale systems, with potential applications in power grids, networked dynamical systems, and tuning of particle accelerators.

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arXiv2026

Stabilization of Predator-Prey Age-Structured Hyperbolic PDE when Harvesting both Species is Inevitable

Populations do not only interact over time but also age over time. It is therefore common to model them as age-structured PDEs, where age is the space variable. Since the models also involve integrals over age, both in the birth process and in the interaction among species, they are in fact integro-partial differential equations (IPDEs) with positive states. To regulate the population densities to desired profiles, harvesting is used as input. But non-discriminating harvesting, where wanting to repress one species will inevitably repress the other species as well, the positivity restriction on the input (no insertion of population), and the multiplicative nature of harvesting, makes control challenging even for ODE versions of such dynamics, let alone for their IPDE versions on an infinite-dimensional nonnegative state space. We introduce a design for a benchmark version of such a problem: a two-population predator-prey setup. The model is equivalent to two coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs), actuated by harvesting which must not drop below zero, and strongly disturbed by two autonomous but exponentially stable integral delay equations (IDEs). We develop two control designs. With a modified Volterra-like control Lyapunov function, we design a simple feedback which employs possibly negative harvesting for global stabilization of the ODE model, while guaranteeing regional regulation with positive harvesting. With a more sophisticated, restrained controller we achieve regulation for the ODE model globally, with positive harvesting. For the full IPDE model, with the IDE dynamics acting as large disturbances, for both the simple and saturated feedback laws we provide explicit estimates of the regions of attraction. The paper charts a new pathway for control designs for infinite-dimensional multi-species dynamics and for nonlinear positive systems with positive controls.

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arXiv2026

Extremum Seeking Control for Wave-PDE Actuation with Distributed Effects

This paper deals with the gradient-based extremum seeking control (ESC) with actuation dynamics governed by distributed wave partial differential equations (PDEs). To achieve the control objective of real-time optimization for this class of infinite-dimensional systems, we first solve the trajectory generation problem to re-design the additive perturbation signal of the ESC system. Then, we develop a boundary control law through the backstepping method to compensate for the wave PDE with distributed effects, which ensures the exponential stability of the average closed-loop system by means of a Lyapunov-based analysis. At last, by employing the averaging theory for infinite-dimensional systems, we prove that the closed-loop trajectories converge to a small neighborhood surrounding the optimal point. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

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arXiv2025

Nonholonomic Robot Parking by Feedback -- Part II: Nonmodular, Inverse Optimal, Adaptive, Prescribed/Fixed-Time and Safe Designs

For the unicycle system, we provide constructive methods for the design of feedback laws that have one or more of the following properties: being nonmodular and globally exponentially stabilizing, inverse optimal, robust to arbitrary decrease or increase of input coefficients, adaptive, prescribed/fixed-time stabilizing, and safe (ensuring the satisfaction of state constraints). Our nonmodular backstepping feedbacks are implementable with either unidirectional or bidirectional velocity actuation. Thanks to constructing families of strict CLFs for the unicycle, we introduce a general design framework and families of feedback laws for the unicycle, which are inverse optimal with respect to meaningful costs. These inverse optimal feedback laws are endowed with robustness to actuator uncertainty and arbitrarily low input saturation due to the unicycle's driftlessness. Besides ensuring robustness to unknown input coefficients, we also develop adaptive laws for these unknown coefficients, enabling the achievement of good transient performance with lower initial control effort. Additionally, we develop controllers that achieve stabilization within a user-specified time horizon using two systematic methods: time-dilated prescribed-time design with smooth-in-time convergence to zero of both the states and the inputs and homogeneity-based fixed-time control that provides an explicit bound on the settling time. Finally, with a nonovershooting design we guarantee strictly forward motion without curb violation. This article, along with its Part I, lays a broad constructive design foundation for stabilization of the nonholonomic unicycle.

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arXiv2025

Stabilization of Age-Structured Competing Populations

Age-structured models capture the dynamic behavior of populations over time and result in nonlinear integro-partial differential equations (IPDEs). These processes arise in various fields such as biotechnology, economics, or demography. While coupled age-structured IPDEs modeling two or more interacting species occur naturally in epidemiology and ecology, they remain relatively underexplored. Prior work has primarily addressed stable and marginally stable dynamics. In constrast, this work considers an exponentially unstable model of two competing predator populations, formally referred to in the literature as ``competition'' dynamics. If one were to apply an input that simultaneously harvests both predator species, one would have control over only the product of the densities of the species, not over their ratio. Therefore, it is necessary to design a control input that directly harvests only one of the two predator species, while indirectly influencing the other via a backstepping approach. The model is transformed into a system of two coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs), of which only one is actuated, and two autonomous, exponentially stable integral delay equations (IDEs) which enter the ODEs as nonlinear disturbances. The ODEs are globally stabilized with backstepping and an estimate of the region of attraction of the asymptotically stabilized equilibrium of the full IPDE system is provided, under a positivity restriction on control. Additionally, the full IPDE system is also shown to be local exponential stable. Such generalizations of competition dynamics open exciting possibilities for future research directions for systems with more than two species.

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arXiv2025

Multivariable Gradient-Based Extremum Seeking Control with Saturation Constraints

This paper addresses the multivariable gradient-based extremum seeking control (ESC) subject to saturation. Two distinct saturation scenarios are investigated here: saturation acting on the input of the function to be optimized, which is addressed using an anti-windup compensation strategy, and saturation affecting the gradient estimate. In both cases, the unknown Hessian matrix is represented using a polytopic uncertainty description, and sufficient conditions in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are derived to design a stabilizing control gain. The proposed conditions guarantee exponential stability of the origin for the average closed-loop system under saturation constraints. With the proposed design conditions, non-diagonal control gain matrices can be obtained, generalizing conventional ESC designs that typically rely on diagonal structures. Stability and convergence are rigorously proven using the Averaging Theory for dynamical systems with Lipschitz continuous right-hand sides. Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed ESC algorithms, confirming the convergence even in the presence of saturation.

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arXiv2025

Inverse Optimal Feedback and Gain Margins for Unicycle Stabilization

The recent development of globally strict control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) for the challenging unicycle parking problem provides a foundation for pursuing optimality. We address this in the inverse optimal framework, thereby avoiding the need to solve the Hamilton$\unicode{x2013}$Jacobi$\unicode{x2013}$Bellman (HJB) equations, and establish a general result that is optimal with respect to a meaningful cost. We present several design examples that impose varying levels of penalty on the control effort, including arbitrarily bounded control. Furthermore, we show that the inverse optimal controller possesses an infinite gain margin thanks to the system being driftless, and leveraging this property, we extend the design to an adaptive controller that handles model uncertainty. Finally, we compare the performance of the non-adaptive inverse optimal controller with its adaptive counterpart.

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arXiv2025

Half-Global Deadbeat Parking for Dubins Vehicle

This paper presents a framework for stabilizing the Dubins vehicle model to zero in finite time (deadbeat parking) by interpreting distance as a time-like variable. We develop control laws that bring the system to a desired position and orientation even when the forward velocity cannot be directly actuated. While the controllers employ inverse-distance gains, we show that the control input remains bounded for all time. In addition to basic deadbeat parking, we incorporate safety considerations by proposing algorithms that prevent the vehicle from crossing in front of the target, enforce deceleration as it approaches the target, and guarantee parking without curb violations. The resulting methods are well-suited for missile guidance and fixed-wing pursuit, but are broadly applicable to physical systems that are represented by the Dubins vehicle model.

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arXiv2025

Constant-Sum High-Order Barrier Functions for Safety Between Parallel Boundaries

This paper takes a step towards addressing the difficulty of constructing Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) for parallel safety boundaries. A single CBF for both boundaries has been reported to be difficult to validate for safety, and we identify why this challenge is inherent. To overcome this, the proposed method constructs separate CBFs for each boundary. We begin by presenting results for the relative degree one case and then extend these to higher relative degrees using the CBF backstepping technique, establishing conditions that guarantee safety. Finally, we showcase our method by applying it to a unicycle system, deriving a simple, verifiable condition to validate the target CBFs for direct implementation of our results.

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arXiv2025

Multivariable Extremum Seeking Unit-Vector Control Design

This paper investigates multivariable extremum seeking using unit-vector control. By employing the gradient algorithm and a polytopic embedding of the unknown Hessian matrix, we establish sufficient conditions, expressed as linear matrix inequalities, for designing the unit-vector control gain that ensures finite-time stability of the origin of the average closed-loop error system. Notably, these conditions enable the design of non-diagonal control gains, which provide extra degrees of freedom to the solution. The convergence of the actual closed-loop system to a neighborhood of the unknown extremum point is rigorously proven through averaging analysis for systems with discontinuous right-hand sides. Numerical simulations illustrate the efficacy of the proposed extremum seeking control algorithm.

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arXiv2025

Extremum Seeking Control for Multivariable Maps under Actuator Saturation

This paper deals with the gradient-based extremum seeking control for multivariable maps under actuator saturation. By exploiting a polytopic embedding of the unknown Hessian, we derive a LMI-based synthesis condition to ensure that the origin of the average closed-loop error system is exponentially stable. Then, the convergence of the extremum seeking control system under actuator saturation to the unknown optimal point is proved by employing Lyapunov stability and averaging theories. Numerical simulations illustrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.

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arXiv2024

Robust Control Barrier Function Design for High Relative Degree Systems: Application to Unknown Moving Obstacle Collision Avoidance

In safety-critical control, managing safety constraints with high relative degrees and uncertain obstacle dynamics pose significant challenges in guaranteeing safety performance. Robust Control Barrier Functions (RCBFs) offer a potential solution, but the non-smoothness of the standard RCBF definition can pose a challenge when dealing with multiple derivatives in high relative degree problems. As a result, the definition was extended to the marginally more conservative smooth Robust Control Barrier Functions (sRCBF). Then, by extending the sRCBF framework to the CBF backstepping method, this paper offers a novel approach to these problems. Treating obstacle dynamics as disturbances, our approach reduces the requirement for precise state estimations of the obstacle to an upper bound on the disturbance, which simplifies implementation and enhances the robustness and applicability of CBFs in dynamic and uncertain environments. Then, we validate our technique through an example problem in which an agent, modeled using a kinematic unicycle model, aims to avoid an unknown moving obstacle. The demonstration shows that the standard CBF backstepping method is not sufficient in the presence of a moving obstacle, especially with unknown dynamics. In contrast, the proposed method successfully prevents the agent from colliding with the obstacle, proving its effectiveness.

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