English

Output-Feedback Safe Control of Discrete-Time Stochastic Systems with Chance Constraints

Systems and Control 2026-04-15 v1 Systems and Control

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate safety-critical control problem of discrete-time stochastic systems with incomplete information, where safety constraints must be enforced using state estimates obtained from noisy measurements. We develop an output-feedback control barrier function (CBF) framework based on an expectation-based discrete-time barrier condition that explicitly incorporates estimation uncertainty through the evolving belief over the state. To enable real-time implementation, we derive deterministic sufficient conditions that conservatively enforce the expectation-based CBF by bounding the expectation with computable functions of the belief statistics using Jensen inequalities. The resulting safety filter is formulated as a tractable optimization problem compatible with standard online controllers. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed output-feedback approach achieves fast online computation while providing reliable safety performance in the presence of process noise and measurement uncertainty.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.12956,
  title  = {Output-Feedback Safe Control of Discrete-Time Stochastic Systems with Chance Constraints},
  author = {Jianing Zhao and Zhuoting Cai and Xiang Yin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.12956},
  year   = {2026}
}