Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101283
Luca Ballotta, Andrea Peruffo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari, Manuel Mazo Jr.
Model-based fault detection identifies anomalies by comparing a system’s output with the prediction from a model. Although such a technique can be very powerful, it may suffer from the computational complexity of its underlying models, especially for large systems. An alternative approach that circumvents this cost increase uses barrier functions, which abstract the system’s behaviour into a single value. In this paper, we propose a fault detection mechanism via output-based barrier functions, that does not require to estimate the full state, copes with noisy processes, and is tailored to safety-critical faults as given by a user-defined safe region. We leverage such a mechanism by introducing so-called -fault tolerant sets, which guarantee that a faulty system requires at least time steps before reaching any unsafe state. Our approach is validated through numerical experiments on two systems with linear and nonlinear dynamics, along with the classic three-tank model.
{"title":"Fault detection via output-based barrier functions","authors":"Luca Ballotta, Andrea Peruffo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari, Manuel Mazo Jr.","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101283","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101283","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Model-based fault detection identifies anomalies by comparing a system’s output with the prediction from a model. Although such a technique can be very powerful, it may suffer from the computational complexity of its underlying models, especially for large systems. An alternative approach that circumvents this cost increase uses barrier functions, which abstract the system’s behaviour into a single value. In this paper, we propose a fault detection mechanism via output-based barrier functions, that does not require to estimate the full state, copes with noisy processes, and is tailored to safety-critical faults as given by a user-defined safe region. We leverage such a mechanism by introducing so-called <span><math><mi>p</mi></math></span>-<em>fault tolerant sets</em>, which guarantee that a faulty system requires at least <span><math><mi>p</mi></math></span> time steps before reaching any unsafe state. Our approach is validated through numerical experiments on two systems with linear and nonlinear dynamics, along with the classic three-tank model.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101283"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101328
Mohammad Khajenejad
This paper presents an optimal dynamic control framework for bounded Jacobian nonlinear discrete-time (DT) systems with nonlinear observations affected by both state and process noise. Rather than directly stabilizing the uncertain system, we focus on stabilizing an interval observer in a higher-dimensional space, whose states bound the true system states. Our nonlinear dynamic control method introduces added flexibility over traditional static and linear approaches, effectively compensating for system nonlinearities and enabling potentially tighter closed-loop intervals. Additionally, we establish a separation principle that allows for the design of observer and control gains. We further derive tractable matrix inequalities to ensure system stability in the closed-loop configuration. The simulation results show that the proposed dynamic control approach significantly outperforms a static counterpart method.
{"title":"Optimal dynamic control of bounded Jacobian discrete-time systems via interval observers","authors":"Mohammad Khajenejad","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents an optimal dynamic control framework for bounded Jacobian nonlinear discrete-time (DT) systems with nonlinear observations affected by both state and process noise. Rather than directly stabilizing the uncertain system, we focus on stabilizing an interval observer in a higher-dimensional space, whose states bound the true system states. Our nonlinear dynamic control method introduces added flexibility over traditional static and linear approaches, effectively compensating for system nonlinearities and enabling potentially tighter closed-loop intervals. Additionally, we establish a separation principle that allows for the design of observer and control gains. We further derive tractable matrix inequalities to ensure system stability in the closed-loop configuration. The simulation results show that the proposed dynamic control approach significantly outperforms a static counterpart method.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101328"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101318
Frederik Thiele, Felix Biertümpfel, Harald Pfifer
This paper presents a novel approach for robust periodic attitude control of satellites. Respecting the periodicity of the satellite dynamics in the synthesis allows to achieve constant performance and robustness requirements over the orbit. The proposed design follows a mixed sensitivity control design employing a physically motivated weighting scheme. The controller is calculated using a novel structured linear time-periodic output feedback synthesis with guaranteed optimal -performance. The synthesis poses a convex optimization problem and avoids grid-wise evaluations of coupling conditions inherent for classical periodic -synthesis. Moreover, the controller has a transparent and easy to implement structure. A solar power plant satellite is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for periodic satellite attitude control.
{"title":"A robust periodic controller for spacecraft attitude tracking","authors":"Frederik Thiele, Felix Biertümpfel, Harald Pfifer","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a novel approach for robust periodic attitude control of satellites. Respecting the periodicity of the satellite dynamics in the synthesis allows to achieve constant performance and robustness requirements over the orbit. The proposed design follows a mixed sensitivity control design employing a physically motivated weighting scheme. The controller is calculated using a novel structured linear time-periodic output feedback synthesis with guaranteed optimal <span><math><msub><mrow><mi>L</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>-performance. The synthesis poses a convex optimization problem and avoids grid-wise evaluations of coupling conditions inherent for classical periodic <span><math><msub><mrow><mi>H</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>∞</mi></mrow></msub></math></span>-synthesis. Moreover, the controller has a transparent and easy to implement structure. A solar power plant satellite is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for periodic satellite attitude control.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101318"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101366
Daniel Landgraf, Thore Wietzke, Knut Graichen
Switched latent force models (LFMs) are combinations of a first-principles physical model and a Gaussian process prior, where the driving force of the LFM may switch at certain time points. This allows to use expert knowledge to create an analytical state space model that describes large parts of the system behavior, while deviating parts are modeled using data-based methods. This paper proposes the combination of stochastic model predictive control and switched LFMs by reformulating the Gaussian process priors as linear state space models with additive white Gaussian noise. For this purpose, a stochastic optimization problem is formulated that can be solved by a deterministic approximation of the uncertainty propagation and the chance constraints. The switching points of the LFM introduce further uncertainty to the system that must be considered for the prediction of the state trajectories. Therefore, Gaussian mixture models are used to describe the probability density functions of the predicted states. The computation cost of the approach can be reduced by using a separate disturbance predictor, which allows to formulate the optimization problem of the model predictive controller independently of the internal disturbance states. The performance of the proposed method is illustrated for the control of a building energy system.
{"title":"Stochastic model predictive control with switched latent force models","authors":"Daniel Landgraf, Thore Wietzke, Knut Graichen","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Switched latent force models (LFMs) are combinations of a first-principles physical model and a Gaussian process prior, where the driving force of the LFM may switch at certain time points. This allows to use expert knowledge to create an analytical state space model that describes large parts of the system behavior, while deviating parts are modeled using data-based methods. This paper proposes the combination of stochastic model predictive control and switched LFMs by reformulating the Gaussian process priors as linear state space models with additive white Gaussian noise. For this purpose, a stochastic optimization problem is formulated that can be solved by a deterministic approximation of the uncertainty propagation and the chance constraints. The switching points of the LFM introduce further uncertainty to the system that must be considered for the prediction of the state trajectories. Therefore, Gaussian mixture models are used to describe the probability density functions of the predicted states. The computation cost of the approach can be reduced by using a separate disturbance predictor, which allows to formulate the optimization problem of the model predictive controller independently of the internal disturbance states. The performance of the proposed method is illustrated for the control of a building energy system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101366"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101367
Robin Strässer, Julian Berberich, Frank Allgöwer
In this paper, we propose a novel controller design approach for unknown nonlinear systems using the Koopman operator. In particular, we use the recently proposed stability- and feedback-oriented extended dynamic mode decomposition (SafEDMD) architecture to generate a data-driven bilinear surrogate model with certified error bounds. Then, by accounting for the obtained error bounds in a controller design based on the bilinear system, one can guarantee closed-loop stability for the true nonlinear system. While existing approaches over-approximate the bilinearity of the surrogate model, thus introducing conservatism and providing only local guarantees, we explicitly account for the bilinearity by using sum-of-squares (SOS) optimization in the controller design. More precisely, we parametrize a rational controller stabilizing the error-affected bilinear surrogate model and, consequently, the underlying nonlinear system. The resulting SOS optimization problem provides explicit data-driven controller design conditions for unknown nonlinear systems based on semidefinite programming. Our approach significantly reduces conservatism by establishing a larger region of attraction and improved data efficiency. The proposed method is evaluated using numerical examples, demonstrating its advantages over existing approaches.
{"title":"Koopman-based control using sum-of-squares optimization: Improved stability guarantees and data efficiency","authors":"Robin Strässer, Julian Berberich, Frank Allgöwer","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101367","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101367","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we propose a novel controller design approach for unknown nonlinear systems using the Koopman operator. In particular, we use the recently proposed stability- and feedback-oriented extended dynamic mode decomposition (SafEDMD) architecture to generate a data-driven bilinear surrogate model with certified error bounds. Then, by accounting for the obtained error bounds in a controller design based on the bilinear system, one can guarantee closed-loop stability for the true nonlinear system. While existing approaches over-approximate the bilinearity of the surrogate model, thus introducing conservatism and providing only local guarantees, we explicitly account for the bilinearity by using sum-of-squares (SOS) optimization in the controller design. More precisely, we parametrize a rational controller stabilizing the error-affected bilinear surrogate model and, consequently, the underlying nonlinear system. The resulting SOS optimization problem provides explicit data-driven controller design conditions for unknown nonlinear systems based on semidefinite programming. Our approach significantly reduces conservatism by establishing a larger region of attraction and improved data efficiency. The proposed method is evaluated using numerical examples, demonstrating its advantages over existing approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101367"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101322
Giovanni Campanile , Vittoria Martinelli , Davide Salzano , Davide Fiore , Mario di Bernardo
Metabolic burden is a critical limiting factor in the design of synthetic circuits, affecting both their reliability and performance. To mitigate its effects, distributing control functions across different cell populations within a multicellular control architecture offers a promising solution, while simultaneously enhancing modularity and re-usability of the circuits. We first present a model that explicitly accounts for limited ribosome availability within cells. Using this framework, we then derive a mathematical model of a multicellular antithetic integral controller that incorporates these shared resources. Through numerical bifurcation analysis and in silico agent-based experiments in BSim, we compare the multicellular controller against its traditional single-cell (embedded) implementation, evaluating both resource utilization and stability.
{"title":"In silico analysis of metabolic burden effects on a multicellular integral controller","authors":"Giovanni Campanile , Vittoria Martinelli , Davide Salzano , Davide Fiore , Mario di Bernardo","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Metabolic burden is a critical limiting factor in the design of synthetic circuits, affecting both their reliability and performance. To mitigate its effects, distributing control functions across different cell populations within a multicellular control architecture offers a promising solution, while simultaneously enhancing modularity and re-usability of the circuits. We first present a model that explicitly accounts for limited ribosome availability within cells. Using this framework, we then derive a mathematical model of a multicellular antithetic integral controller that incorporates these shared resources. Through numerical bifurcation analysis and <em>in silico</em> agent-based experiments in BSim, we compare the multicellular controller against its traditional single-cell (embedded) implementation, evaluating both resource utilization and stability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101322"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101399
{"title":"Special Issue on the European Control Conference 2025","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101399","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101399","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101399"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101291
Debraj Bhattacharjee , Mohammad Fahim Shakib , Alessandro Astolfi
We study the foreground–background separation problem for a video stream in the moment matching framework. We first show how a video stream can be represented as the steady-state output of a dynamical system. We then leverage this technique to reconstruct image sequences in a video stream. In addition, we show that foreground–background separation is a special case of this reconstruction algorithm. Finally, we highlight the computational benefits of the proposed method when compared to other methods that associate a sequence of images with a dynamical system.
{"title":"Foreground–background separation and video reconstruction using moment matching","authors":"Debraj Bhattacharjee , Mohammad Fahim Shakib , Alessandro Astolfi","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101291","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101291","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study the foreground–background separation problem for a video stream in the moment matching framework. We first show how a video stream can be represented as the steady-state output of a dynamical system. We then leverage this technique to reconstruct image sequences in a video stream. In addition, we show that foreground–background separation is a special case of this reconstruction algorithm. Finally, we highlight the computational benefits of the proposed method when compared to other methods that associate a sequence of images with a dynamical system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101291"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101304
Jan H. Hoekstra , Chris Verhoek , Roland Tóth , Maarten Schoukens
Nonlinear system identification (NL-SI) has proven to be effective in obtaining accurate models for highly complex systems. In particular, recent encoder-based methods for artificial neural network state-space (ANN-SS) models have achieved state-of-the-art performance on various benchmarks, while offering consistency and computational efficiency. Inclusion of prior knowledge of the system can be exploited to increase (i) estimation speed, (ii) accuracy, and (iii) interpretability of the resulting models. This paper proposes an encoder-based model augmentation method that incorporates prior knowledge from first-principles (FP) models. We introduce a novel linear-fractional-representation (LFR) model structure that allows for the unified representation of various augmentation structures including the ones that are commonly used in the literature, and an identification algorithm for estimating the proposed structure together with appropriate initialization methods. The performance and generalization capabilities of the proposed method are demonstrated in the identification of a hardening mass–spring-damper system simulation case study and the Bouc-Wen nonlinear system identification benchmark.
{"title":"Learning-based model augmentation with LFRs","authors":"Jan H. Hoekstra , Chris Verhoek , Roland Tóth , Maarten Schoukens","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101304","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101304","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Nonlinear system identification</em> (NL-SI) has proven to be effective in obtaining accurate models for highly complex systems. In particular, recent encoder-based methods for <em>artificial neural network state-space</em> (ANN-SS) models have achieved state-of-the-art performance on various benchmarks, while offering consistency and computational efficiency. Inclusion of prior knowledge of the system can be exploited to increase (i) estimation speed, (ii) accuracy, and (iii) interpretability of the resulting models. This paper proposes an encoder-based model augmentation method that incorporates prior knowledge from <em>first-principles</em> (FP) models. We introduce a novel <em>linear-fractional-representation</em> (LFR) model structure that allows for the unified representation of various augmentation structures including the ones that are commonly used in the literature, and an identification algorithm for estimating the proposed structure together with appropriate initialization methods. The performance and generalization capabilities of the proposed method are demonstrated in the identification of a hardening mass–spring-damper system simulation case study and the Bouc-Wen nonlinear system identification benchmark.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101304"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101339
Denis Efimov , Emilia Fridman
For an even power convex or concave function of a scalar variable having a global and unique extremum, an algorithm of the extremum seeking is proposed, which does not use any dither excitation signal, hence, being asymptotically exact, and it is based on online time derivative estimation of the measured output. Two approaches are discussed, first, with utilization of the super-twisting differentiator, and second, where the derivative is estimated via the time-delay method. For analysis of the latter, an extension of the invariance principle is formulated for functional differential inclusions. The efficiency of the suggested extremum seeking algorithms is illustrated through numeric experiments.
{"title":"An extremum seeking algorithm for 1D static maps with delay-based derivative estimation","authors":"Denis Efimov , Emilia Fridman","doi":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejcon.2025.101339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For an even power convex or concave function of a scalar variable having a global and unique extremum, an algorithm of the extremum seeking is proposed, which does not use any dither excitation signal, hence, being asymptotically exact, and it is based on online time derivative estimation of the measured output. Two approaches are discussed, first, with utilization of the super-twisting differentiator, and second, where the derivative is estimated via the time-delay method. For analysis of the latter, an extension of the invariance principle is formulated for functional differential inclusions. The efficiency of the suggested extremum seeking algorithms is illustrated through numeric experiments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50489,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Control","volume":"86 ","pages":"Article 101339"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}