"Formal Methods for Safety-Critical Control using Control Barrier Functions"

Seminar presentation by Prof. Calin Belta, Institute for Systems Research.  Maryland Robotics Center, University of Maryland.

Abstract:

In control theory, complicated dynamics such as systems of (nonlinear) differential equations are mostly controlled to achieve stability and to optimize a cost. In formal synthesis, simple systems such as finite state transition graphs modeling computer programs or digital circuits are controlled from specifications such as safety, liveness, or richer requirements expressed as formulas of temporal logics. With the development and integration of cyber physical and safety critical systems, there is an increasing need for computational tools for controlling complex systems from rich, temporal logic specifications, while ensuring safety. Recent works proposed computational efficient approaches for safety-critical control using Control Barrier Functions (CBF) and Control Lyapunov Functions (CLF). In this talk, I will show how these approaches can be extended to accommodate systems with high relative degrees, (partially) unknown dynamics, temporal logic specifications, and to improve the feasibilty of the associated optimization problems. 

Bio:

Calin Belta is the Brendan Iribe Endowed  Professor of  Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science  at the University of Maryland, College Park, where is also part of the Maryland Robotics Center (MRC) and the Institute for Systems Research (ISR).  His research focuses on making control and machine learning systems safe and Interpretable,  with particular emphasis on  robotics and systems biology.

Notable awards include the 2008 AFOSR YIP and the 2005 NSF CAREER. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. 

Learn more about Prof. Belta's research at www.calinbelta.com