Multi-Rate Control Design Leveraging Control Barrier Functions and Model Predictive Control Policies

In this letter we present a multi-rate control architecture for safety critical systems. We consider a high level planner and a low level controller which operate at different frequencies. This multi-rate behavior is described by a piecewise nonlinear model which evolves on a continuous and a discrete level. First, we present sufficient conditions which guarantee recursive constraint satisfaction for the closed-loop system. Afterwards, we propose a control design methodology which leverages Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) for low level control and Model Predictive Control (MPC) policies for high level planning. The control barrier function is designed using the full nonlinear dynamical model and the MPC is based on a simplified planning model. When the nonlinear system is control affine and the high level planning model is linear, the control actions are computed by solving convex optimization problems at each level of the hierarchy. Finally, we show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy on a simulation example, where the low level control action is updated at a higher frequency than the high level command.