Control barrier function based quadratic programs with application to adaptive cruise control

This paper develops a control methodology that unifies control barrier functions and control Lyapunov functions through quadratic programs. The result is demonstrated on adaptive cruise control, which presents both safety and performance considerations, as well as actuator bounds. We begin by presenting a novel notion of a barrier function associated with a set, formulated in the context of Lyapunov-like conditions; the existence of a barrier function satisfying these conditions implies forward invariance of the set. This formulation naturally yields a notion of control barrier function (CBF), yielding inequality constraints in the control input that, when satisfied, again imply forward invariance of the set.…