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Thursday 10 September

Systems and Control

Predefined-Time Leaderless Consensus Under Denial-of-Service Attacks

This paper addresses predefined-time resilient consensus of leaderless second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems under denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, motivated by coordination requirements in safety-critical applications. The agents are subject to bounded external disturbances and communicate over a strongly connected directed graph whose links are simultaneously disabled during attacks. We develop a switching sliding-mode protocol with the objective of reaching an invariant manifold of position and velocity agreement. The protocol uses relative position and velocity information during attack-free intervals and local velocity feedback during communication blackouts. A time-scaling function remains constant during each blackout and resumes evolving when communication is restored, accounting for the time available for consensus. Under bounds on attack duration and frequency, we derive sufficient gain conditions through a Lyapunov analysis. We show that, despite bounded disturbances, the agents achieve position and velocity consensus by a realistic settling time equal to a prescribed convergence duration plus the cumulative attack duration up to the realistic settling time. The prescribed convergence duration is independent of the initial conditions, and the realistic settling time reduces to that duration in the absence of attacks.
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Systems and Control

Construction of Control Lyapunov-Barrier Functions from CLF-CBF Pairs

This paper studies the construction of control Lyapunov-barrier functions (CLBFs) from a given control Lyapunov function (CLF) $V$ and control barrier function (CBF) $h$. We consider functions of the form $W=F(V,h)$ that increase with the CLF value and do not increase with the barrier value, and show that the CLBF decrease condition is completely characterized by a nonnegative scalar weight that governs the relative contributions of the CLF and CBF. Because this weight depends only on $(V,h)$, the same value must satisfy the decrease condition at all states sharing the same CLF and CBF values, which leads to a joint-level-set admissibility condition. We then construct CLBFs from admissible weights through a first-order partial differential equation (PDE) and obtain explicit multiplicative and power-type families as special cases. We further identify an integrability obstruction showing that admissibility alone does not guarantee properness. Two nonlinear examples illustrate the constructions and demonstrate safe stabilization in cases where feedback based on the original CLF violates the safety constraint.
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Systems and Control

Mixed-integer optimization for multi-year military aircraft fleet management

While existing strategies for Flight and Maintenance Planning for the defense sector generally address idealized conditions, real-world planning often involve non-nominal initial fleet states and complex inspection schemes. To address these challenges, we propose a multi-year planning strategy that maximizes long-term fleet availability. The formulation incorporates multiple competing objectives capturing the tight coupling between aircraft usage and maintenance, while enforcing cyclic inspection requirements and limited maintenance-dock capacity. To enhance practical applicability, we introduce three complementary strategies: a receding-horizon approach to reduce computational burden, a Bayesian Optimization routine to automatically tune cost-function coefficients, and an aircraft-specific weighting scheme that adapts model priorities based on fleet-condition statistics. Results on three realistic benchmark scenarios demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.
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All authors Matteo Vescovi, Raffaele Giuseppe Cestari, Roberto Valdambrini, Andrea Mercurio, Valentina Breschi, Mara Tanelli

Systems and Control

Elementwise Positivity of the Solution to Lyapunov Equation for Hurwitz Companion Matrices

We prove, with the aid of AI, that for every real symmetric forcing matrix $Q\succeq0$, the unique solution of a continuous-time Lyapunov equation is entrywise nonnegative whenever the state matrix is a real Hurwitz companion matrix. This proves an earlier conjecture. The proof makes no assumption on the spectrum of the state matrix, and is made possible by means of using Horner polynomial matrices. We also show that discrete-time counterpart of the conjecture is false: Counterexamples can be readily constructed to show that Schur companion matrices, including one generated by a polynomial with all positive coefficients, yield solutions with negative off-diagonal entries even with identity forcing.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.ET

From Grid to Chip: Power Architecture, Stability, and Flexibility of AI Data Centers

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) computing is transforming data centers into large, dynamic electrical loads. Their deployment is primarily constrained by energy availability and grid-connection capacity, which is further aggravated by the ability of power-delivery architectures, control systems, and computing workloads to operate reliably during fast grid disturbances. This article presents a technological perspective on AI data centers as grid-interactive computing systems. First, it reviews grid-integration bottlenecks, evolving connection policies, grid-code requirements, which has fostered new technological trends via spatio-temporal flexibility available through workload orchestration, cooling systems, on-site resources, and energy storage. Second, it maps the evolution of power-delivery architectures from medium-voltage grid interfaces to chip-level, discussing higher-voltage DC distribution, solid-state transformers, wide-bandgap devices, advanced chip-level power delivery, and liquid cooling. Third, it establishes a three-level stability framework spanning rack-level DC-bus dynamics, facility-level converter interactions, and system-level grid-coupled behavior. The framework connects dominant instability mechanisms, including constant power load effects, impedance interactions, forced oscillations, and operating-mode transitions, with suitable modeling, assessment, and mitigation approaches. Synthesizing these topics, this article highlights grid-to-chip co-design as a central requirement for scalable AI infrastructure, linking computing workloads, power-delivery systems, energy buffers, and grid operation.
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All authors Yubo Song, Rui Kong, Takuro Umihara, Pooya Davari, Frede Blaabjerg, Subham Sahoo

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.AI

Distributed Optimization of Modular Production Systems using Model-based Reinforcement Learning with Inverse Models

This paper presents a novel approach for data-driven self-learning control of highly flexible, modular manufacturing systems. Specifically, we employ a novel framework for model-based reinforcement learning which introduces approximate inverse process models within the training of reinforcement policies. This approach disentangles the learning of actuation dynamics and the dynamics in state space, resulting in RL-based training solely within the task space. We propose a lightweight feedforward architecture for approximate inverse models and integrate them within the policy network of standard RL algorithms. We apply the approach to a laboratory modular production testbed with heterogeneous production modules. The results underline the efficiency improvements for modular manufacturing units in terms of both performance and training speed, particularly for off-policy algorithms.
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All authors Andreas Schwung, Steve Yuwono, Sofiene Lassoued, Dorothea Schwung

Systems and Control

Critic-Free Policy Iteration for Continuous-Time Zero-Sum Games: A Policy-Space Riccati Approach

This paper develops a critic-free policy iteration (PI) method for continuous-time linear zero-sum games. The central idea is to characterize the saddle-point policies directly in the joint policy space, rather than treating the quadratic value matrix as an iterative variable. A policy game Riccati equation (PGRE) is introduced whose unknowns are policy gains only. Its solutions are shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with the symmetric solutions of the game algebraic Riccati equation. Based on a stabilizing anchor, PI is performed directly in the actor space. The actor-space Jacobian is nonsingular at every stabilizing policy, and the resulting policy sequence coincides with that of simultaneous PI. For unknown dynamics, a data-driven algorithm uses a single batch of data and nullspace projection of endpoint increments to eliminate the value matrix, yielding an actor-only regression. A necessary and sufficient rank condition for unique policy recovery is established and shown to be iteration-invariant, demonstrating that critic identifiability is unnecessary. A power systems frequency-regulation example verifies convergence and policy recovery, while scalability tests demonstrate substantial reductions in computational and memory requirements.
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Systems and Control

A Primal-Dual Formulation for Pricing Static Voltage Stability Services within a Unit Commitment Model

In modern power systems with high penetration of Inverter-Based Resources (IBR), most converters operate in Grid-Following (GFL) mode. Some buses exhibit inherently low Short-Circuit Ratios (SCRs), a property majorly shaped by network topology. The integration of GFL-IBR onto such weak buses thus demands attention to static voltage stability. To address this issue, market mechanisms have been proposed to incentivize generators to provide voltage stability services, such as commitment of synchronous generators for reducing the equivalent impedance at low SCR buses and adaptive reactive power support from GFL-IBR. To compute shadow prices for these services, previously proposed methods such as the `restricted' and `dispatchable' approaches may fail to guarantee operating cost recovery for voltage-stability service providers. As the resulting prices are determined purely from a social surplus maximization objective, the profitability of units is entirely overlooked. This suggests that new pricing methodologies are needed to satisfy cost-recovery requirements. Therefore, this paper proposes a pricing method based on a primal-dual formulation. Case studies demonstrate that the proposed method can consistently produce revenue-adequate shadow prices, enabling all participating units to recover their costs without supplementary uplift payments.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from math.OC

Asynchronous Replanning in Two Population Linear Quadratic Mean Field Games: Information Requirements and Stability

We study asynchronous continuation replanning in a two-population linear–quadratic mean field game with deterministic open-loop controls and heterogeneous, possibly erroneous initial information. At exogenous opportunities, one population recomputes its continuation response from the physical aggregate state reached, with the opponent's active plan frozen. The state–plan target needed to initialize replanning is recoverable from local aggregate observations if and only if a kernel-inclusion condition holds; full recovery of the hidden initial input is unnecessary. For revisions accumulating before the terminal time, spectral stability of the limiting two-response cycle yields bounded physical execution and a finite state left limit. The zero-extended continuation plans then converge strongly to the mean field equilibrium restarted from that state. A scalar counterexample shows that well-posed continuation problems and a convergent physical state can coexist with divergent remaining plans. We also construct an exact causal implementation from local aggregate observations and establish finite-population robustness on every fixed finite opportunity prefix. Revision records match with probability tending to one, and the mean-square implementation error truncated to the matching event is \(O(N_*^{-1})\), where \(N_*\) is the smaller population size.
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Systems and Control

Quantifying the Unintentional Islanding Risk: A Comparative Study on Active Distribution Network

The growing share of Inverter-Based Resources (IBRs) is changing the operation of modern Active Distribution Networks (ADNs), raising concerns for grid stability, protection, and reliability. In this paper, we investigate the dynamic behavior of a Medium-Voltage (MV) portion of an ADN during the transition from grid-connected to islanded operation. The study considers a Grid-Following (GFL) converter and Synchronous Generators (SGs) operated under two distinct regulation modes: a fixed-setpoint, non-regulating condition representative of present-day distribution networks, and an active frequency/voltage-regulating condition representative of SGs equipped with governor and AVR control. Detailed electromagnetic transient (EMT) models of both technologies have been developed in DIgSILENT PowerFactory that quantifies the sensitivity of island persistence to SG regulation mode and inertia. The results show that when DERs operate at a fixed power setpoint, the risk of forming a sustained, undetected electrical island is limited, since the isolated network drifts out of the protection thresholds within tens of seconds. Conversely, enabling frequency and voltage regulation on the SGs is sufficient to sustain an unintentional island indefinitely without triggering conventional protection, regardless of system inertia.
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All authors Harshit Nayak, Edoardo Daccò, Jose Luis Rueda Torres, Davide Falabretti

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.RO

GeoTrussRover: Morphological Computation with Contact-Semantic Control Primitives

Reconfigurable robots can change their contact geometry when a fixed body cannot negotiate an obstacle. A variable-geometry truss (VGT) distributes this shape change through a load-bearing structure, but coupling it to a mobile base creates a high-dimensional coordination problem. GeoTrussRover combines an electrically actuated VGT, a wheeled base, and contact-semantic morphology planning and control. We solve one source traversal and extract four contact-semantic primitives that describe coordination among 21 members. Physics-constrained projection adapts them to unseen step heights with the same contact topology. When every phase remains feasible, adaptation does not recompute the complete motion. If one phase violates the new physical constraints, only that phase is recomputed. A full-space QP then tracks the adapted motion and corrects member and wheel errors. For transfer from 0.10m to 0.075m, the method reduces objective-function evaluations by 63.7% relative to full recomputation. Contact-phase feasibility analysis covers step heights from 0.10 to 0.46m, or 1.08 to 4.97 wheel radii, with the upper value near the theoretical feasible boundary. The electric prototype traverses 2.11 wheel radii. The resulting low-dimensional representation stores task coordination in a hyper-redundant, load-bearing morphology and reuses it during locomotion.
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All authors Muyuan Ma, Yi Zhang, Yang Yang, Xuanyan Zheng, Ruiqi Hu, Boxuan Ke, Zhenyu Chen, Yicong Lin, Xin Hao Yang, Daliang Xiao, Zhinan Hou, Wanhao Niu, Yuan Sun, Yan Yang, Yue Xie

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Estimating Inconsistency Response Surfaces under Uncertainty in Cyber-Physical System Development

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are commonly represented through multiple interconnected models. During development, CPS consistency requires that shared model elements remain compatible across these models. Uncertainty, for example, due to sensor noise or model abstraction, changes the admissible values of model elements and can introduce inconsistencies, i.e., situations in which models can no longer be jointly satisfied. While existing approaches can determine consistency for a given uncertainty configuration, they provide limited support for systematically exploring, analyzing, and explaining inconsistency across large uncertainty spaces. We address this challenge by reformulating inconsistency as an intervention response modeling problem. Using Saltelli sampling and multi-fidelity Monte Carlo estimation, we generate intervention-response datasets and train a surrogate model that directly predicts inconsistency from the propagated uncertainty geometry. Experiments on 48 scenarios and 10 CPS domains show that the surrogate matches Monte Carlo estimates while reducing evaluation time from milliseconds to microseconds, enabling orders-of-magnitude more response-surface evaluations within fixed computational budgets. Building on the learned response surfaces, we perform sensitivity analysis to identify dominant uncertainty drivers and introduce a gradient-based consistency recourse method to determine minimal uncertainty interventions that restore consistency. The results show that inconsistency under uncertainty can be effectively learned, analyzed, and repaired through response-surface modeling, providing a scalable foundation for uncertainty-aware consistency management in CPS development.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from math.OC

Optimal chemo-immunotherapy scheduling: A hybrid QPSO-SQP approach with Michaelis-Menten pharmacodynamics

Optimal scheduling of combined chemo-immunotherapy is often formulated as a control-affine optimal control problem, which generically yields boundary-selected (bang-bang-type) protocols unless singular arcs occur. This structure, while convenient, neglects saturating pharmacodynamics at high dose rates. We incorporate Michaelis-Menten saturation directly into the therapy channels, making the dynamics non-control-affine and the Hamiltonian nonlinear in each control. With strictly positive exposure penalties, the Hamiltonian admits an explicit three-regime pointwise minimization law: each input is chosen at the lower bound, the upper bound, or as a unique interior minimizer. On interior intervals the strict Legendre condition holds, so continuously modulated dosing arises as a regular interior extremal rather than a singular-arc or smoothing artifact. The resulting transcription is nonconvex; we therefore use a hybrid Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO)-Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) pipeline, where QPSO provides a constraint-aware warm start and SQP enforces feasibility and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality on a collocation grid. Costate reconstruction corroborates the Pontryagin Minimum Principle (PMP) structure and the predicted boundary/interior regime transitions.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from math.OC

Optimal Control for Cancer Chemotherapy Using Hybrid Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization

Optimal control in cancer chemotherapy is challenged by tumor heterogeneity and mutations, which complicate treatment effectiveness. Traditional methods, such as Pontryagin's maximum principle (PMP), are often hindered by their reliance on an initial guess for the costate equation, affecting accuracy and convergence. To address these limitations, this work introduces a hybrid quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) method based on regularization. QPSO is employed for global exploration to approximate the optimal control trajectory, followed by a regularization-based refinement to ensure smoothness and consistency with optimality conditions. The Hamiltonian function is used for first- and second-order optimality checks, verifying solution quality. Numerical case studies explore various drug effectiveness functions, demonstrating the role of periodic and localized drug delivery in achieving robust tumor suppression and providing insights into the impact of different drug combinations on optimal chemotherapy strategies.
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Systems and Control

A Counterexample to Two Representative Unit Aggregation Formulations for Unit Commitment

Unit aggregation removes symmetry among identical generators in unit commitment, but an aggregate formulation is feasible-region exact only if every aggregate trajectory it admits has a feasible unit-level realization. This letter shows that two commonly used aggregation formulations for slow-ramping units, i.e., p-clustered unit commitment (PCUC) and tight unit aggregation (TUA), cannot satisfy this requirement. We construct a counterexample that satisfies all aggregate constraints of both formulations yet admits no feasible disaggregation. This counterexample reveals a limitation common to both formulations: they do not guarantee intertemporal consistency of unit-level output allocations. Experiments on the replication cases reported in published literature further verify that such infeasibility of disaggregation can even occur in optimal solutions of aggregate models. This letter demonstrates that PCUC and TUA can still overestimate ramping flexibility. Developing exact aggregation models that can be solved efficiently for identical slow-ramping units remains a challenge.
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Systems and Control

Exact PID and PI Gain Regions for Uncertain Non-Affine MIMO Systems

Characterizing all PID gains that guarantee uniform exponential regulation of uncertain nonlinear systems remains a fundamental problem. Most existing results provide only sufficient conditions derived from a particular Lyapunov construction. This paper gives exact gain regions, defined directly by uniform regulation over the entire uncertainty class, for two classes of nonaffine MIMO systems with $m\ge2$ controlled coordinates and input channels. For systems of second order under PID control, we independently characterize a common quadratic inner region and an outer region based on a linear subclass. The two regions coincide and therefore characterize the PID gain region exactly at the system level. For systems of first order under PI control, a lossless reduction to a linear family on the uncertainty boundary, combined with a common quadratic certificate, yields the exact PI region. Both regions strictly enlarge existing sufficient regions, and the PID result also provides a sequential tuning rule. A compact linear family with one uncertain parameter shows that common quadratic certification is not generally lossless. These results establish endpoint coincidence and boundary family equivalence as two routes to exact gain regions and motivate the broader question of which nonlinear uncertainty classes admit such characterizations.
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Systems and Control

Quantifying the Reality Gap for RL-Based UAV Placement at mmWave and Sub-THz

Reinforcement learning (RL) policies for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) placement in mmWave and sub-terahertz networks are typically trained on simplified analytical channels. We quantify the resulting sim-to-real gap on a real urban map of Doha, Qatar, at carriers {28, 140, 183, 300} GHz and altitudes {50, 75, 100, 125} m, evaluating three channel pipelines: an analytical model (FSPL + atmospheric absorption + cuboid LoS), full Monte-Carlo ray tracing in Sionna RT with ITU-R P.676-13 absorption, and a deterministic-LoS hybrid that reuses Sionna's mesh under a closed-form path-gain expression. We formalize the gap on the spatial SNR distribution via four metrics, namely bias, RMSE, Jensen-Shannon divergence, and optimum-deployment displacement. Three findings emerge: at 28/140 GHz, $\sim$70% of the apparent -5.6/-4.8 dB Sionna bias is Monte-Carlo undersampling and shrinks to -1.7/-1.5 dB after mitigation; at 183 GHz a -9.2 dB residual isolates the atmospheric absorption / ITU-R P.676 line-shape disagreement; at 300 GHz the stochastic ray tracer agrees with the analytical model only coincidentally, with a +3.8 dB structural offset exposed by the deterministic-LoS pipeline. Across all carriers the linear-domain regret of the analytical-trained policy stays $\geq$ 0.93, indicating practical near-optimality but with a carrier-resolved SNR bias that warrants explicit reporting.
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All authors Abdullateef Almohamad, Mostafa Ibrahim, Sabit Ekin, Khalid Qaraqe

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.RO

Freehand Sketching for End-User Programming of Robot Swarms

Robot swarms are increasingly used in applications where accessible interaction with non-expert users is desirable. This paper investigates freehand sketching as an end-user programming interface for specifying robot swarm geometries. Users communicate spatial intent through a drawing, while the swarm autonomously extracts target formation points, constructs a rigid formation graph, assigns robots to formation nodes, and executes distributed formation control with a guarantee against unintended reflected formations. The resulting sketch-to-swarm framework is evaluated through a human study examining the usability of freehand formation specification. Twenty participants generated $42$ geometric shapes, and the interface achieved a mean System Usability Scale score of $84.25$, which conventionally indicates high perceived usability. The results support freehand sketching as an intuitive interaction abstraction for human-swarm collaboration without requiring robotics or programming expertise.
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Systems and Control

Fusion Estimation in Multi-sensor Systems for Data Packets with Disrupted Identities

In this paper, we explore the problem of fusion estimation for a multi-sensor system where the identity of the data packet received by each sensor may be disrupted or incorrect due to confusion in device identity allocation, communication protocol defects, or the lack of a clear sensor identifier. This can result in a random shuffle of the data components during the fusion estimation process, compromising the performance of the fusion estimation. To address this issue, we introduce the concepts of permutations and symmetry groups to describe this phenomenon as data packet permutation. We construct statistics to simplify the information set, developing two algorithms: a Bayesian approach, which performs fusion using posterior arrangement probabilities, and a greedy approach, which effectively improves estimation performance by guessing the likely data arrangement. We compare these two algorithms and demonstrate that both are expectation error-bounded. We improve algorithms for information-scarce scenarios. By employing the expectation-maximization algorithm, we fill in the prior information of data arrangement where the correct convergence is proven. Finally, we present numerical simulations to validate our results.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.CR

BenchShield: Formal Model-Backed Instrumentation for Reward Integrity in LLM-Agent Evaluation Infrastructure

LM-agent benchmarks increasingly function as interactive evaluation infrastructure. Agents observe state, call tools, modify workspaces, submit artifacts, and receive rewards from outcome procedures. This interactivity makes evaluations vulnerable to reward hacking: an agent improves its measured score by exploiting the reward-relevant trajectory instead of solving the intended task. Existing defenses rely largely on task-specific patches, prompt instructions, or post-hoc detectors. They do not provide reusable evidence that a concrete run remained within its intended evaluation boundary. This paper presents BenchShield, a model-backed instrumentation layer for reward integrity in LLM-agent evaluation. BenchShield grounds detection in a finite lifecycle model of an evaluation's reward-relevant events. Within the benchmark infrastructure, two complementary analyses operate over this model. A static, phase-aware taint analysis exposes reward-hacking paths before a run. Its runtime counterpart uses infrastructure-side evidence to attribute concrete agent use and emit evidence-backed claims. We construct BenchShield Trajectories, a human-labeled corpus of 456 adjudicated trajectories from more than 31,000 public agent runs across three benchmarks. Compared with an agentic hackability scanner baseline on the same tasks and model, BenchShield improves full-chain recall from 23-94% to 77-100%, same-vector coverage from 16-56% to 43-78%, and reduces per-task cost by up to 65%. Its runtime analysis achieves 96% accuracy in detecting reward hacking from infrastructure-side evidence.
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All authors Shenghan Zheng, Zonglin Di, Yimin Liu, Kyoung Whan Choe, Jiankai Sun, Heguang Lin, Penghao Jiang, Yifeng He, Xiao Cheng, Jicheng Wang, Wenbo Chen, Alex Yates, Yinzhe Zhao, Bingran You, Yuan Gao, Ayush Munot, Shubham Gaur, Zhe Ye, Hao Wang, Xiangyi Li, Dawn Song, Christophe Hauser

Systems and Control

Structured Stochastic Representations of Integrated Dynamic Strategies

Dynamic allocation decisions couple present resource use to evolving internal conditions, delayed returns, and future costs. We represent this interaction by four probability localizations linked through regime-indexed, graph-constrained column-stochastic operators. Pre-action state or context selects a locally affine model, while action-dependent changes update subsequent regimes, yielding a causal switched representation of nonlinear evolution. We characterize operator identifiability relative to the graph, the stochastic constraints, and the sampled embedding, separating coefficient recovery from predictive equivalence on the decision domain. Decision making is then formulated through implementable return–cost acceptability regions. Finite-horizon error propagation supplies conservative classification margins, and simultaneous intervals distinguish model-relative near-optimality from certified $\epsilon$-optimality over a declared finite policy class. Regime-indexed stochastic feedback is admitted when it satisfies the same certification test. Reproducible synthetic laboratories for personal preparation, supplier participation, and customer retention illustrate exact, operator-supplied, and noisy feedback cases. Multinomial experiments show improving recovery of the feedback function and fewer unresolved decisions with increasing sample size, while unrestricted off-policy recovery remains limited. The contribution is a structure-preserving representation–identification–decision workflow, not a domain-specific physiological or commercial calibration.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.IT

A Mathematical Theory of Pragmatic Information

We propose a mathematical theory of pragmatic information that connects communication, control, and decision-making. Its central notion is the isoteleia mapping, which formalizes equifinality: distinct semantic paths that lead to the same optimal action are treated as pragmatically equivalent. This mapping yields a three-tier hierarchy of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic information, in which each successive abstraction removes distinctions that are irrelevant to the task. We then define pragmatic entropy, up/down pragmatic mutual information, channel capacity, and rate-distortion, and prove lossless source coding, channel coding, and rate-distortion theorems that extend Shannon's results. These measures quantify decision uncertainty, reliable transmission, and task-oriented compression at the level of terminal actions. We further introduce pragmatic value of information (VoI) and pragmatic cost of information (CoI) as decision-theoretic duals to rate-distortion and capacity, and develop a Lagrangian dual framework for cross-layer optimization. The resulting pragmatic efficiency bound $\mathcal{E}_p(\lambda)=\sup_R[\Phi_p(R)-\lambda\mathrm{CoI}_p(R)]$ characterizes the maximum net utility attainable by a resource-constrained intelligent system under a given resource price, yielding a behavioral capacity that extends Shannon's symbol-level capacity to goal-directed action. Extensions to continuous messages provide closed-form expressions for Gaussian channels and sources, while dynamic settings are addressed through a Bellman equation for sequential decision-making. The framework supports task-oriented communication, networked control, autonomous systems, and embodied AI by shifting emphasis from symbol fidelity to the effectiveness of information in guiding actions. In this way, it offers a common language for systems that extract value from information under resource constraints.
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Wednesday 9 September

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.RO

Context-Aware Adaptive Pesticide Spraying for Agricultural Robots under Changing Weather and Terrain Using Vision-Language Models

Precision pesticide spraying is essential for optimizing application efficiency and ensuring uniform chemical distribution. Spraying performance is influenced by multiple factors, including environmental conditions such as temperature and wind speed, pesticide type, and the robot's capability to accurately perceive crops and target spray locations. Existing approaches predominantly emphasize crop detection and rely on predefined spraying parameters, whereas human operators dynamically adjust their spraying strategies by considering environmental conditions, region-specific crop characteristics, and the type of pesticide being applied. In this study, we propose a context-aware adaptive spraying framework based on Vision-Language Models (VLMs), which enables robots to leverage spatial reasoning and integrate information from multiple sources, including crop type, pesticide type, and weather data, to make adaptive and optimized spraying decisions. Subsequently, a trajectory-tracking controller based on Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) control is employed to ensure precise navigation and accurate spraying at crop locations. The comparative results demonstrate that the proposed method improves accuracy by at least 30% in detecting crop rows. In addition, the experimental evaluations conducted in two environments further demonstrate the robot's ability to flexibly adjust spraying volume and travel speed, while reducing pesticide drift.
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Systems and Control

Dynamic Centrality Measures for Water Distribution Network Hydraulics

Water distribution networks (WDNs) are susceptible to various failures, including but not limited to human errors, cyber-attacks, and network modifications, necessitating the vulnerability analysis of WDNs. Graph-theoretic centrality measures—as a main class of centrality measures—aim to rank the network components solely based on their influence (i.e., criticality) on the WDN topology in the case of input changes, while overlooking the WDN dynamics. To overcome such a limitation, this paper uses a control-theoretic centrality measure to identify the network's most and least influential pipes in WDNs, by simultaneously incorporating the dynamics and topology of the WDN. First, given a WDN modeled by nonlinear differential-algebraic equations (NDAEs) consisting of transient flow dynamics as differential equation (DE) and conservation of water mass as algebraic equation (AE) and considering the pipe flow rates as states of the state-space (SS) representation, we extract a linearized system modeled by linear ordinary differential equations (LODEs) around the equilibrium (i.e., steady) flow rate vector. Second, treating pipe flow rates as SS nodes (states), we introduce a node centrality-based measure, namely vulnerability vector (VV), to rank the network pipes based on their influence on the dynamics and topology of the WDN in the case of input changes. In particular, the network's most and least influential pipes can be identified through such a centrality-based approach. This enables water engineers to understand the WDN's vulnerability better and effectively prioritize the maintenance and operational efforts on the most influential pipes within the WDN.
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Systems and Control

Structural Sign Herdability in Temporal Networks: A Sufficient Condition via $\pi_p$-Graphs

In this letter, we study the herdability of temporally switching directed networks. A temporal network is modeled as a switched system with a fixed switching sequence, which imposes more restrictive herdability conditions than those of conventional switched systems. By exploiting the relationship between temporal walks and the entries of the controllability matrix, we derive sufficient conditions for herdability. We further show that the magnitude of edge weights influences the sign pattern of the controllability matrix, thereby affecting herdability. Consequently, herdability in temporal networks depends not only on the network topology and switching durations, but also on the magnitude of the edge weights. Motivated by this observation, we establish equivalent graph-theoretic conditions for structural sign ($\mathcal{SS}$) herdability in temporal networks. In particular, we introduce the union multigraph of temporal subsystems and propose the notion of a $\pi$-graph. We show that the existence of a $\pi_p$-graph, which is a temporally evolving $\pi$-graph, is sufficient to guarantee $\mathcal{SS}$ herdability. Illustrative examples are provided to demonstrate the proposed results.
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Systems and Control

Impedance-Based Sensitivity Analysis for Stability Enhancement of LCC-HVDC Links Connected to Weak Grids Using Grid-Forming Converters

This paper presents a frequency-domain, impedance-based sensitivity methodology for stability assessment and enhancement of line-commutated converter HVDC (LCC-HVDC) links operating under weak-grid conditions. The methodology integrates frequency-domain identification tailored for black-box systems, the Generalized Nyquist Criterion (GNC) for multivariable stability assessment, and modal impedance decomposition with participation-factor analysis to locate and interpret interaction mechanisms. The approach is validated against a detailed linearized state-space model and nonlinear EMT simulations of an LCC-HVDC benchmark. A sensitivity study varying the grid short-circuit ratio (SCR) reveals a stability limit for the standalone LCC-HVDC link and demonstrates that the integration of a grid-forming voltage source converter (GFM-VSC) substantially increases the stability margin.
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All authors Luis A. Garcia-Reyes, Anup Joshi, Javier Renedo, Macarena Martin-Almenta, Oriol Gomis-Bellmunt, Eduardo Prieto-Araujo, Vinicius A. Lacerda, Xavier Guillaud

Systems and Control · Cross-listed from eess.SP

Deep Learning-Based Detection of Electrical Faults and Power Quality Disturbances in Aerospace Power Systems

More Electric Aircraft require fast and reliable monitoring of high-frequency electrical networks, yet most power quality disturbance and fault diagnosis methods are developed for conventional 50 or 60 Hz grids. This work presents a hardware-aware deep learning framework for multiclass detection of electrical faults and power quality disturbances in a 400 Hz aerospace power system. A high-fidelity simulation model inspired by the Boeing 787 electrical architecture generates voltage and current waveforms for 21 normal, disturbance, switching, open-circuit, and short-circuit conditions. Two datasets, each containing 73,500 samples, are formed from one-dimensional time-series signals and short-time Fourier transform time-frequency representations. Signal-processing augmentation, domain randomization, and class-specific generative adversarial networks increase waveform diversity, and the time-series dataset is released through IEEE DataPort. We compare 1D and 2D convolutional neural networks, long short-term memory networks, CNN-LSTM hybrids, ResNet, MobileNet, and VGG models under common training conditions. A compact ResNet provides the best accuracy-complexity tradeoff, achieving 96.94 percent software test accuracy with 175,685 parameters. After 8-bit quantization and deployment on a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale Plus MPSoC ZCU102, the model achieves 95.87 percent accuracy and a measured mean neural-network accelerator latency of 6.90 ms per input record. The results establish simulation-based, accelerator-level feasibility for embedded edge AI in aircraft electrical health monitoring and motivate future end-to-end data acquisition and experimental validation.
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Systems and Control

Multivariate linear regression without prior assumptions

Recovering the linear relationships that govern a system from noisy measurements is a basic task across the physical and engineering sciences. Because every measured variable may carry an unknown amount of noise, classical regression must commit in advance to a set of structural assumptions: ordinary least squares requires a declared input-output partition with input variables being noise-free, total least squares assumes equal noise variance across all variables, and generalized total least squares additionally requires the noisy-variable partition and variances to be known beforehand. Kalman~\cite{Kalman:1982} showed that any procedure returning a unique linear model from inexact data must rest on such unverifiable a priori assumptions – “prejudices” – that cannot be checked against the data itself, and that removing them leaves the identification problem fundamentally indeterminate. Whether these prejudices can instead be resolved directly from the data has remain unresolved. Here we show that an iterative generalized-eigenvalue algorithm, QZ-IPCA, recovers the noisy-variable partition, noise variances, number of linear relations, and regression coefficients of a multivariate linear system simultaneously, using only the raw data. Across all possible exhaustive noise configurations of a five-variable benchmark network, QZ-IPCA correctly identifies model structure and recovers coefficients with error below 6.4%. It outperforms ordinary least squares even when given the best partition, and succeeds in rank identification precisely where standard total least squares falls once noise variances differ across variables. These results show that the assumptions conventionally required for multivariate regression are not necessary, recasting model identification as a problem solvable from data geometry alone.
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All authors Mayank S.K. Gupta, Deepanjhan Das, Arun K. Tangirala, Shankar Narasimhan

Systems and Control

The U.S. Interconnection Queue System: Cascading Vulnerability Analysis and a Resilience Engineering Framework

As of 2025, the U.S. interconnection queues, the grid-access gateway for new generation and storage, contain roughly 8,200 projects totaling 2,061 GW of capacity. Only 13% of capacity queued in 2000-2020 (19% by project count) has reached operation. We argue that the queue architecture is vulnerable to self-reinforcing project withdrawal cascades arising from restudy and cost reallocation, independent of study delays. Adapting failure contagion models from financial and interdependent infrastructure networks, we model the queue as a complex adaptive system and test it with a statistical analysis of withdrawal temporal clustering and co-withdrawal across seven ISO/RTOs and a stylized network contagion simulation of cost-sharing interdependencies with circuit-breaker interventions. Using LBNL project-level data through 2025, we find temporal clustering (dispersion indices 5.0-102.4; p < 0.001) and identify 39 monthly withdrawal bursts with the largest cluster-dated, reaching 67.4x the regional mean. Withdrawal timing is concentrated within technology categories in all seven regions (1,000-permutation test; z = 2.58-4.78, p <= 0.005). Co-withdrawal within cohorts is significant only in four regions (0.5-1.8 percentage points). The model yields net cascade amplification of 1.0-1.5x at low-to-moderate connectivity (average network degree k = 3-10). At k = 20 a phase-transition-like shift to systemic instability occurs, exceeding 8.7x amplification at a 10% shock (97.7% cascade size); a boundary condition of the stylized network that disappears under pro-rata redistribution. Capping per-neighbor cost reallocation reduces cascade magnitude by up to 20% relative to no intervention, with a 44% lower mean per-neighbor transfer. These findings characterize the interconnection queue as critical infrastructure with cascading vulnerability whose severity is conditional on cost allocation design.
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Systems and Control · Cross-listed from cs.IT

Mobility Information Capacity in the Sky: A Gaussian Channel Perspective

Existing airspace capacity metrics mainly quantify occupancy or flow, although the same number of aerial vehicles may result in different motion alternatives. This letter establishes mobility information capacity as an information-theoretic measure for low-altitude wireless networks. It quantifies the maximum information that trajectory observations reveal about intentional maneuver inputs under a given maneuver-resource budget and environmental uncertainty. For a common fixed feedback architecture, we formulate a lifted linear-Gaussian mobility channel and derive its finite-horizon log-determinant capacity. Cost and uncertainty whitening gives the spatiotemporal mobility eigenmodes, whose optimal maneuver-resource allocation follows water-filling. When the number of nondegenerate modes grows linearly with time and their efficiencies become asymptotically symmetric, we arrive at the Shannon-like law $R_M^{\rm G}=\frac{B_M}{2}\log_2(1+\mathrm{MNR})$, where MNR is the mobility-to-noise ratio. The proposed measure opens a motion-centric capacity perspective for the sky, while remaining a distinguishability baseline rather than a collision- or geometry-constrained airspace capacity.
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All authors Weijie Yuan, Fan Liu, Shuangyang Li, Lin Zhou, Pingzhi Fan