{"title":"Observers for Timed DESs With Observation Delays and Losses","authors":"Dimitri Lefebvre","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687823","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687823","url":null,"abstract":"This article is about observation and states estimation for timed discrete event systems with observation delays and losses. This topic is particularly important for networked discrete event systems. On the one hand, in order to explicitly incorporate timing aspects, labeled timed automata under specific time semantics with a single clock and time interval constraints are used at the modeling level. On the other hand, delays and losses in observations sequences are specified according to delayed observable events and a set of release locations where the delayed observations are outputted. This release observation mechanism is added to the timing specifications and the resulting model is transformed into clock interval automata with release mechanism for which determinization is obtained as an extension of the untimed reasoning by representing observation of the advance of time with a one time unit tick event. Our main motivation for this research is to show how the time information and the release of delayed observations both refine the analysis of information flow. Potential applications to safety and privacy issues are discussed.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6570-6581"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147752653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gregorio Marchesini;Siyuan Liu;Lars Lindemann;Dimos V. Dimarogonas
{"title":"Sampling-Based Planning Under STL Specifications: A Forward Invariance Approach","authors":"Gregorio Marchesini;Siyuan Liu;Lars Lindemann;Dimos V. Dimarogonas","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3690342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3690342","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we propose a variant of the Rapidly Exploring Random Tree Star (RRT<inline-formula><tex-math>$^{star }$</tex-math></inline-formula>) algorithm for planning trajectories of linear systems under input constraints subject to spatiotemporal specifications expressed in a fragment of signal temporal logic (STL). Compared to existing sampling-based approaches that rely on mixed-integer or nonsmooth optimization, which suffer from poor scalability, we adopt a control-theoretic framework based on set forward invariance. First, STL specifications with polyhedral predicates are encoded as a time-varying set computed via linear programming, such that all trajectories evolving within the set satisfy the specification. Forward invariance of the set for linear systems under input constraints is guaranteed using nonsmooth analysis. Second, a modified RRT<inline-formula><tex-math>$^{star }$</tex-math></inline-formula> algorithm is proposed to efficiently sample dynamically feasible and minimum cost trajectories within this time-varying set, in order to satisfy the given specifications. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on an autonomous inspection mission of the International Space Station and a timed room-servicing task.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6728-6743"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11505760","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Simple Proof of Nehari’s Theorem Based on Duality","authors":"Cristian R. Rojas","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3691281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3691281","url":null,"abstract":"In this technical note, we provide a simple proof of Nehari’s theorem on the optimal approximation by <inline-formula><tex-math>$mathcal {H}_infty$</tex-math></inline-formula> functions, based on convex duality.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6970-6973"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11511757","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072285","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Transfer Learning Method for Safety Control of Linear Systems Under Input Saturation","authors":"Quanqi Zhang;Chengwei Wu;Ligang Wu","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3692001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3692001","url":null,"abstract":"While the safe reinforcement learning (RL) control has been addressed in several studies, achieving safety during the training phase remains a significant challenge. Training directly in hazardous environments through trial and error inherently leads to unsafe behaviors. To address this, we propose a novel safety-certified transfer learning method for linear systems, where an RL controller is first trained to stabilize the system in a risk-free environment and then transferred to the hazardous environment. The primary challenge is to ensure that, after the transfer, the learning-based controller can guarantee safety while preserving stability. To this end, differential geometry tools are employed to analyze the geometric relationship between the systems before and after transfer and design the transferred controller accordingly. Theoretical analysis proves that the transferred controller can stabilize the system and enforce its safety, as long as the original RL controller stabilizes the system. Moreover, the proposed transfer method imposes saturation constraints on the transferred controller to prevent invalid control inputs that may arise from controller modification after transfer. The conditions for the existence of the transferred controller are derived. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by a vehicle control case study.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6962-6969"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zishuo Li;Anh Tung Nguyen;André M. H. Teixeira;Yilin Mo;Karl H. Johansson
{"title":"Secure Filtering Against Spatio-Temporal False Data Attacks Under Asynchronous Sampling","authors":"Zishuo Li;Anh Tung Nguyen;André M. H. Teixeira;Yilin Mo;Karl H. Johansson","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687465","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687465","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the secure state estimation problem for continuous linear time-invariant systems with non-periodic and asynchronous sampled measurements, where the sensors need to transmit not only measurements but also sampling time-stamps to the fusion center. This measurement and communication setup is well-suited for operating large-scale control systems and, at the same time, introduces new vulnerabilities that can be exploited by adversaries through (i) manipulation of measurements, (ii) manipulation of time-stamps, (iii) elimination of measurements, and (iv) generation of completely new false measurements, or a combination of these attacks. To mitigate these attacks, we propose a decentralized estimation algorithm in which each sensor maintains its local state estimate asynchronously based on its measurements. The local estimates are synchronized through time prediction and fused after time-stamp alignment. In the absence of attacks, state estimates are proven to recover the optimal Kalman estimates by solving a weighted least squares problem. In the presence of attacks, solving this weighted least squares problem with <inline-formula><tex-math>$ell _{1}$</tex-math></inline-formula> regularization provides secure state estimates with a uniformly bounded error under an observability redundancy assumption. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated using a benchmark example of the IEEE 14-bus system.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6833-6840"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147735587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"IEEE Control Systems Society Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3729138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3729138","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11715845","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072300","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Error-Aware Nonlinear Gain-Based PID Tracking Control: A Constructive and Self-Tuning Approach","authors":"Kaili Xiang;Yongduan Song;Changyun Wen;Petros Ioannou","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687815","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687815","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controllers face fundamental limitations in handling unknown nonlinearities and coupling effects, often requiring manual tuning or complex adaptation mechanisms. This article introduces a novel nonlinear PID tracking control architecture while incorporating three innovative features: first, analytically constructed error-aware gains with self-tuning capability, utilizing current, past, and predicted error information; second, inherent antiwindup properties through nonlinear integral design; and third, fully autonomous operation without the need for precise a priori knowledge of system dynamics or manual intervention. Unlike prior works mainly restricted to single-input-single-output systems and only achieving uniformly ultimately bounded stability, our approach handles higher order multiple-input–multiple-output systems with unknown coupled dynamics, achieving asymptotic tracking. The controller maintains structural PID simplicity while providing enhanced nonlinear compensation and robust adaptive performance. Comprehensive Lyapunov analysis rigorously validates stability for general normal form nonlinear systems, with superior performance in both regulation and time-varying reference tracking scenarios.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6865-6871"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147752701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fundamental Limitations of Monotonic Tracking Systems","authors":"Hamed Taghavian","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3693191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3693191","url":null,"abstract":"We consider the monotonic tracking control problem for continuous-time single-input single-output linear systems using output-feedback linear controllers in this article. We provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for this problem to be solvable and expose its fundamental limitations: the exact feasible locations of the plant zeros, the minimum controller order possible, and the fastest decay rate achievable for the closed-loop system. The relationship between these bounds is explained by a simple geometric shape for plants with a pair of complex-conjugate zeros.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6903-6907"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11517477","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hannah M. Sweatland;Omkar Sudhir Patil;Warren E. Dixon
{"title":"Adaptive Deep Neural Network-Based Control Barrier Functions","authors":"Hannah M. Sweatland;Omkar Sudhir Patil;Warren E. Dixon","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687496","DOIUrl":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3687496","url":null,"abstract":"Safety constraints of nonlinear control systems are commonly enforced through the use of control barrier functions (CBFs). Uncertainties in the dynamic model can disrupt forward invariance guarantees or cause the state to be restricted to an overly conservative subset of the safe set. In this article, adaptive deep neural networks (DNNs) are combined with CBFs to produce a family of controllers that ensure safety while learning the system's dynamics in real-time without the requirement for pretraining. By basing the least squares adaptation law on a state derivative estimator-based identification error, the DNN parameter estimation error is shown to be uniformly ultimately bounded. The convergent bound on the parameter estimation error is then used to formulate CBF-constraints in an optimization-based controller to guarantee safety despite model uncertainty. Furthermore, the developed method is extended for use under intermittent loss of state-feedback. A switched systems analysis for CBFs is provided with a maximum dwell-time condition during which the feedback can be unavailable. Comparative simulation results demonstrate the ability of the developed method to ensure safety when feedback is lost, unlike the baseline method. Results show improved performance compared to baseline methods and demonstrate the ability of the developed method to ensure safety in feedback-denied environments.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"6818-6824"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147739637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Remote State Estimation Over a Wearing Channel: Information Freshness Versus Channel Aging","authors":"Jiping Luo;George Stamatakis;Osvaldo Simeone;Nikolaos Pappas","doi":"10.1109/TAC.2026.3694625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2026.3694625","url":null,"abstract":"We study the remote estimation of a linear Gaussian system over a channel that wears out over time and with every use. The sensor can either transmit a fresh measurement in the current time slot, restore the channel quality at the cost of downtime, or remain silent. Frequent transmissions yield accurate estimates but incur significant wear on the channel. Renewing the channel too often improves channel conditions but results in poor estimation quality. What is the optimal timing to transmit measurements and restore the channel? This problem is formulated as a semi-Markov decision process. We establish monotonicity properties of the optimal policy and propose structure-aware solution methods.","PeriodicalId":13201,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control","volume":"71 10","pages":"7014-7021"},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149072259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}