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We consider a nonlinear control affine system controlled by inputs generated by a quadratic program (QP) induced by a control barrier functions (CBF). Specifically, we slightly modify the condition satisfied by CBFs and study how the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-29 Yankai Lin , Michelle S. Chong , Carlos Murguia

This paper generalizes the control barrier function framework by replacing scalar-valued functions with matrix-valued ones. Specifically, we develop barrier conditions for safe sets defined by matrix inequalities -- both semidefinite and…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-09-01 Pio Ong , Yicheng Xu , Ryan M. Bena , Faryar Jabbari , Aaron D. Ames

Safety is a fundamental requirement of control systems. Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) are proposed to ensure the safety of the control system by constructing safety filters or synthesizing control inputs. However, the safety guarantee…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-03-29 Manan Tayal , Hongchao Zhang , Pushpak Jagtap , Andrew Clark , Shishir Kolathaya

Safety filters, particularly those based on control barrier functions, have gained increased interest as effective tools for safe control of dynamical systems. Existing correct-by-construction synthesis algorithms for such filters, however,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-09-19 Ihab Tabbara , Hussein Sibai

Control barrier functions (CBFs) have been widely used for synthesizing controllers in safety-critical applications. When used as a safety filter, it provides a simple and computationally efficient way to obtain safe controls from a…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2023-03-13 Bolun Dai , Heming Huang , Prashanth Krishnamurthy , Farshad Khorrami

Ensuring liveness and safety of autonomous and cyber-physical systems remains a fundamental challenge, particularly when multiple safety constraints are present. This letter advances the theoretical foundations of safety-filter Quadratic…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-03-24 Matheus F. Reis , José P. Carvalho , A. Pedro Aguiar

This paper investigates the control barrier function (CBF) based safety-critical control for continuous nonlinear control affine systems using the more efficient online algorithms through time-varying optimization. The idea lies in that…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2023-03-21 Shengbo Wang , Shiping Wen , Yin Yang , Yuting Cao , Kaibo Shi , Tingwen Huang

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) offer a framework for ensuring set invariance and designing constrained control laws. However, crafting a valid CBF relies on system-specific assumptions and the availability of an accurate system model,…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-05-14 Mohammad Bajelani , Klaske van Heusden

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) have been demonstrated to be a powerful tool for safety-critical controller design for nonlinear systems. Existing design paradigms do not address the gap between theory (controller design with continuous…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-06-15 Andrew J. Taylor , Victor D. Dorobantu , Ryan K. Cosner , Yisong Yue , Aaron D. Ames

In this paper, we establish a connection between model predictive control (MPC) techniques and Control Barrier Functions (CBFs). Recognizing the similarity between CBFs and Control Lyapunov Functions (CLFs), we propose a MPC formulation…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-07-03 Jingyi Huang , Han Wang , Kostas Margellos , Paul Goulart

We present a computational framework for synthesizing a single smooth Lyapunov function that certifies both asymptotic stability and safety. We show that the existence of a strictly compatible pair of control barrier and control Lyapunov…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-10-03 Jun Liu , Maxwell Fitzsimmons

Certifying the safety of nonlinear systems, through the lens of set invariance and control barrier functions (CBFs), offers a powerful method for controller synthesis, provided a CBF can be constructed. This paper draws connections between…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-06-18 Max H. Cohen , Ryan K. Cosner , Aaron D. Ames

We consider the problem of safely coordinating ensembles of identical autonomous agents to conduct complex missions with conflicting safety requirements and under noisy control inputs. Using non-smooth control barrier functions (CBFs) and…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-03-29 Clinton Enwerem , John S. Baras

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) aim to ensure safety by constraining the control input at each time step so that the system state remains within a desired safe region. This paper presents a framework for CBFs in stochastic systems in the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-10-20 Andrew Clark

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) have proven to be an effective tool for performing safe control synthesis for nonlinear systems. However, guaranteeing safety in the presence of disturbances and input constraints for high relative degree…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-01-21 Luzia Knoedler , Oswin So , Ji Yin , Mitchell Black , Zachary Serlin , Panagiotis Tsiotras , Javier Alonso-Mora , Chuchu Fan

In this paper, we study a safe control design for dynamical systems in the presence of uncertainty in a dynamical environment. The worst-case error approach is considered to formulate robust Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) in an…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2024-02-15 Vahid Hamdipoor , Nader Meskin , Christos G. Cassandras

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) have become a popular tool for enforcing set invariance in safety-critical control systems. While guaranteeing safety, most CBF approaches are myopic in the sense that they solve an optimization problem at…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-08-11 Max Cohen , Calin Belta

Inspired by the success of imitation and inverse reinforcement learning in replicating expert behavior through optimal control, we propose a learning based approach to safe controller synthesis based on control barrier functions (CBFs). We…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2020-11-10 Alexander Robey , Haimin Hu , Lars Lindemann , Hanwen Zhang , Dimos V. Dimarogonas , Stephen Tu , Nikolai Matni

Control barrier functions (CBFs) are widely used in safety-critical controllers. However, constructing a valid CBF is challenging, especially under nonlinear or non-convex constraints and for high relative degree systems. Meanwhile, finding…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-10-12 Bolun Dai , Prashanth Krishnamurthy , Farshad Khorrami

Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) are utilized to ensure the safety of control systems. CBFs act as safety filters in order to provide safety guarantees without compromising system performance. These safety guarantees rely on the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-06-30 Hongchao Zhang , Manan Tayal , Jackson Cox , Pushpak Jagtap , Shishir Kolathaya , Andrew Clark