Input-to-State Safety With Control Barrier Functions

Abstract

This letter presents a new notion of input-to-state safe control barrier functions (ISSf-CBFs), which ensure safety of nonlinear dynamical systems under input disturbances. Similar to how safety conditions are specified in terms of forward invariance of a set, input-to-state safety conditions are specified in terms of forward invariance of a slightly larger set. In this context, invariance of the larger set implies that the states stay either inside or very close to the smaller safe set; and this closeness is bounded by the magnitude of the disturbances. The main contribution of the letter is the methodology used for obtaining a valid ISSf-CBF, given a control barrier function. The associated universal control law will also be provided. Towards the end, we will study unified quadratic programs that combine control Lyapunov functions and ISSf-CBFs in order to obtain a single control law that ensures both safety and stability in systems with input disturbances.