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Paulo Tabuada

Bio: Paulo Tabuada is an academic researcher from University of California, Los Angeles. The author has contributed to research in topics: Control system & Control theory. The author has an hindex of 60, co-authored 288 publications receiving 20444 citations. Previous affiliations of Paulo Tabuada include University of California, Berkeley & Instituto Superior Técnico.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This note investigates a simple event-triggered scheduler based on the paradigm that a real-time scheduler could be regarded as a feedback controller that decides which task is executed at any given instant and shows how it leads to guaranteed performance thus relaxing the more traditional periodic execution requirements.
Abstract: In this note, we revisit the problem of scheduling stabilizing control tasks on embedded processors. We start from the paradigm that a real-time scheduler could be regarded as a feedback controller that decides which task is executed at any given instant. This controller has for objective guaranteeing that (control unrelated) software tasks meet their deadlines and that stabilizing control tasks asymptotically stabilize the plant. We investigate a simple event-triggered scheduler based on this feedback paradigm and show how it leads to guaranteed performance thus relaxing the more traditional periodic execution requirements.

3,695 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 Dec 2012
TL;DR: An introduction to event- and self-triggered control systems where sensing and actuation is performed when needed and how these control strategies can be implemented using existing wireless communication technology is shown.
Abstract: Recent developments in computer and communication technologies have led to a new type of large-scale resource-constrained wireless embedded control systems. It is desirable in these systems to limit the sensor and control computation and/or communication to instances when the system needs attention. However, classical sampled-data control is based on performing sensing and actuation periodically rather than when the system needs attention. This paper provides an introduction to event- and self-triggered control systems where sensing and actuation is performed when needed. Event-triggered control is reactive and generates sensor sampling and control actuation when, for instance, the plant state deviates more than a certain threshold from a desired value. Self-triggered control, on the other hand, is proactive and computes the next sampling or actuation instance ahead of time. The basics of these control strategies are introduced together with a discussion on the differences between state feedback and output feedback for event-triggered control. It is also shown how event- and self-triggered control can be implemented using existing wireless communication technology. Some applications to wireless control in process industry are discussed as well.

1,642 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new simple characterization of the maximum number of attacks that can be detected and corrected as a function of the pair (A,C) of the system is given and it is shown that it is impossible to accurately reconstruct the state of a system if more than half the sensors are attacked.
Abstract: The vast majority of today's critical infrastructure is supported by numerous feedback control loops and an attack on these control loops can have disastrous consequences. This is a major concern since modern control systems are becoming large and decentralized and thus more vulnerable to attacks. This paper is concerned with the estimation and control of linear systems when some of the sensors or actuators are corrupted by an attacker. We give a new simple characterization of the maximum number of attacks that can be detected and corrected as a function of the pair $(A,C)$ of the system and we show in particular that it is impossible to accurately reconstruct the state of a system if more than half the sensors are attacked. In addition, we show how the design of a secure local control loop can improve the resilience of the system. When the number of attacks is smaller than a threshold, we propose an efficient algorithm inspired from techniques in compressed sensing to estimate the state of the plant despite attacks. We give a theoretical characterization of the performance of this algorithm and we show on numerical simulations that the method is promising and allows to reconstruct the state accurately despite attacks. Finally, we consider the problem of designing output-feedback controllers that stabilize the system despite sensor attacks. We show that a principle of separation between estimation and control holds and that the design of resilient output feedback controllers can be reduced to the design of resilient state estimators.

1,199 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
10 Dec 2013
TL;DR: The PETC strategies developed in this paper apply to both static state-feedback and dynamical output-based controllers, as well as to both centralized and decentralized (periodic) event-triggering conditions.
Abstract: Event-triggered control (ETC) is a control strategy that is especially suited for applications where communication resources are scarce. By updating and communicating sensor and actuator data only when needed for stability or performance purposes, ETC is capable of reducing the amount of communications, while still retaining a satisfactory closed-loop performance. In this paper, an ETC strategy is proposed by striking a balance between conventional periodic sampled-data control and ETC, leading to so-called periodic event-triggered control (PETC). In PETC, the event-triggering condition is verified periodically and at every sampling time it is decided whether or not to compute and to transmit new measurements and new control signals. The periodic character of the triggering conditions leads to various implementation benefits, including a minimum inter-event time of (at least) the sampling interval of the event-triggering condition. The PETC strategies developed in this paper apply to both static state-feedback and dynamical output-based controllers, as well as to both centralized and decentralized (periodic) event-triggering conditions. To analyze the stability and the L2-gain properties of the resulting PETC systems, three different approaches will be presented based on 1) impulsive systems, 2) piecewise linear systems, and 3) perturbed linear systems. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of each of the three approaches will be discussed and the developed theory will be illustrated using a numerical example.

1,011 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper develops a methodology that allows safety conditions—expression as control barrier functions—to be unified with performance objectives—expressed as control Lyapunov functions—in the context of real-time optimization-based controllers.
Abstract: Safety critical systems involve the tight coupling between potentially conflicting control objectives and safety constraints. As a means of creating a formal framework for controlling systems of this form, and with a view toward automotive applications, this paper develops a methodology that allows safety conditions—expressed as control barrier functions —to be unified with performance objectives—expressed as control Lyapunov functions—in the context of real-time optimization-based controllers. Safety conditions are specified in terms of forward invariance of a set, and are verified via two novel generalizations of barrier functions; in each case, the existence of a barrier function satisfying Lyapunov-like conditions implies forward invariance of the set, and the relationship between these two classes of barrier functions is characterized. In addition, each of these formulations yields a notion of control barrier function (CBF), providing inequality constraints in the control input that, when satisfied, again imply forward invariance of the set. Through these constructions, CBFs can naturally be unified with control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) in the context of a quadratic program (QP); this allows for the achievement of control objectives (represented by CLFs) subject to conditions on the admissible states of the system (represented by CBFs). The mediation of safety and performance through a QP is demonstrated on adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, two automotive control problems that present both safety and performance considerations coupled with actuator bounds.

992 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI

[...]

08 Dec 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one, which seems an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.
Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

33,785 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Nyquist criterion is proved that uses the eigenvalues of the graph Laplacian matrix to determine the effect of the communication topology on formation stability, and a method for decentralized information exchange between vehicles is proposed.
Abstract: We consider the problem of cooperation among a collection of vehicles performing a shared task using intervehicle communication to coordinate their actions. Tools from algebraic graph theory prove useful in modeling the communication network and relating its topology to formation stability. We prove a Nyquist criterion that uses the eigenvalues of the graph Laplacian matrix to determine the effect of the communication topology on formation stability. We also propose a method for decentralized information exchange between vehicles. This approach realizes a dynamical system that supplies each vehicle with a common reference to be used for cooperative motion. We prove a separation principle that decomposes formation stability into two components: Stability of this is achieved information flow for the given graph and stability of an individual vehicle for the given controller. The information flow can thus be rendered highly robust to changes in the graph, enabling tight formation control despite limitations in intervehicle communication capability.

4,377 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This note investigates a simple event-triggered scheduler based on the paradigm that a real-time scheduler could be regarded as a feedback controller that decides which task is executed at any given instant and shows how it leads to guaranteed performance thus relaxing the more traditional periodic execution requirements.
Abstract: In this note, we revisit the problem of scheduling stabilizing control tasks on embedded processors. We start from the paradigm that a real-time scheduler could be regarded as a feedback controller that decides which task is executed at any given instant. This controller has for objective guaranteeing that (control unrelated) software tasks meet their deadlines and that stabilizing control tasks asymptotically stabilize the plant. We investigate a simple event-triggered scheduler based on this feedback paradigm and show how it leads to guaranteed performance thus relaxing the more traditional periodic execution requirements.

3,695 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Aug 2002
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe decentralized control laws for the coordination of multiple vehicles performing spatially distributed tasks, which are based on a gradient descent scheme applied to a class of decentralized utility functions that encode optimal coverage and sensing policies.
Abstract: This paper describes decentralized control laws for the coordination of multiple vehicles performing spatially distributed tasks. The control laws are based on a gradient descent scheme applied to a class of decentralized utility functions that encode optimal coverage and sensing policies. These utility functions are studied in geographical optimization problems and they arise naturally in vector quantization and in sensor allocation tasks. The approach exploits the computational geometry of spatial structures such as Voronoi diagrams.

2,445 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: This paper proposes gradient descent algorithms for a class of utility functions which encode optimal coverage and sensing policies which are adaptive, distributed, asynchronous, and verifiably correct.
Abstract: This paper presents control and coordination algorithms for groups of vehicles. The focus is on autonomous vehicle networks performing distributed sensing tasks where each vehicle plays the role of a mobile tunable sensor. The paper proposes gradient descent algorithms for a class of utility functions which encode optimal coverage and sensing policies. The resulting closed-loop behavior is adaptive, distributed, asynchronous, and verifiably correct.

2,198 citations