Publications

Journal articles

1. Functional Observers for Output-Feedback Safety with High-Order Control Barrier Functions

   S. S. Mousavi, P. Mestres, A. D. Ames

   IEEE Control Systems Letters, submitted

2. Safe Stabilizing Linear Feedback: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions, Optimality, and Margins

   P. Mestres, S. S. Mousavi, P. Ong, A. D. Ames

   IEEE Control Systems Letters, submitted · PDF

3. A Unified Perspective on Conformal Prediction and Wasserstein Distributional Robust Optimization for Uncertainty Quantification

   K. Long, Y. Zhao, P. Mestres, L. Lindemann, N. Atanasov, J. Cortés

   Annual Reviews in Control, submitted · PDF

4. Probabilistic Control Barrier Functions for Systems with State Estimation Uncertainty using Sub-Gaussian Concentration

   K. Echigo, D. E. J. van Wijk, P. Mestres, E. Daş, J. W. Burdick, A. D. Ames

   IEEE Control Systems Letters, to appear · PDF

5. Dynamical Properties of Safety Filters for Linear Systems and Affine Control Barrier Functions

   P. Mestres, S. S. Mousavi, A. D. Ames

   IEEE Control Systems Letters, 10 (2026), 979–984 · PDF

6. Safe Feedback Optimization through Control Barrier Functions

   G. Delimpaltadakis*, P. Mestres*, J. Cortés, W. M. P. H. Heemels

   IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, submitted · PDF

7. Universal Formulas for Safe Control and their Neural Network Approximations

   P. Mestres, J. Cortés, E. D. Sontag

   Systems and Control Letters, 215 (2026), 106480 · PDF

8. Off-Policy Reinforcement Learning with Anytime Safety Guarantees via Robust Safe Gradient Flow

   P. Mestres, A. Marzabal, J. Cortés

   IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, submitted · PDF

9. Control Barrier Function-Based Safety Filters: Characterization of Undesired Equilibria, Unbounded Trajectories, and Limit Cycles

   P. Mestres, Y. Chen, E. Dall'Anese, J. Cortés

   Journal of Nonlinear Science, 36 (2026), 41 · PDF

10. Safe and Dynamically-Feasible Motion Planning using Control Lyapunov and Barrier Functions

    P. Mestres, C. Nieto-Granda, J. Cortés

    IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 41 (2025), 6440–6459 · PDF

11. Independence of Closed-Loop Equilibria and Stability from the Choice of Control Barrier Function for a Given Set

    Y. Chen, P. Mestres, J. Cortés, E. Dall'Anese

    Automatica, 191 (2026), 113105 · PDF

12. Converse Theorems for Certificates of Safety and Stability

    P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 70(12) (2025), 8016–8028 · PDF

13. Distributed Safe Navigation of Multi-Agent Systems using Control Barrier Function-Based Optimal Controllers

    P. Mestres, C. Nieto-Granda, J. Cortés

    IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 9(7) (2024), 6760–6767. Presented at ICRA 2025 · PDF

14. Regularity Properties of Optimization-Based Controllers

    P. Mestres, A. Allibhoy, J. Cortés

    European Journal of Control, 81 (2025), 101098. Keynote Invited Paper · PDF

15. Feasibility Analysis and Regularity Characterization of Distributionally Robust Safe Stabilizing Controllers

    P. Mestres, K. Long, N. Atanasov, J. Cortés

    IEEE Control Systems Letters, 8 (2024), 91–96 · PDF

16. Feasibility and Regularity Analysis of Safe Stabilizing Controllers under Uncertainty

    P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    Automatica, 167 (2024), 111800 · PDF

17. Optimization-Based Safe Stabilizing Feedback with Guaranteed Region of Attraction

    P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    IEEE Control Systems Letters, 7 (2023), 367–372. Joint submission to the 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control · PDF

18. Resource-Aware Discretization of Accelerated Optimization Flows

    M. Vaquero, P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 68(4) (2023) · PDF

Conference papers

1. Safety Filtering with an Infinite Number of Constraints

   M. Cohen, P. Ong, P. Mestres, A. D. Ames

   65th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, to appear · PDF

2. Stability Analysis in Multi-Constraint Safety Filters for Linear Systems

   S. S. Mousavi, P. Mestres, A. D. Ames

   65th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, to appear · PDF

3. Safe Policy Optimization via Control Barrier Function-based Safety Filters

   Y. Chen, P. Mestres, E. Dall'Anese, J. Cortés

   65th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, to appear · PDF

4. Explicit Control Barrier Function-based Safety Filters and their Resource-Aware Computation

   P. Mestres, S. S. Mousavi, P. Ong, L. Yang, E. Das, J. W. Burdick, A. D. Ames

   IFAC World Congress 2026, to appear · PDF

5. Risk-Aware Safety Filters with Poisson Safety Functions and Laplace Guidance Fields

   G. Bahati, R. M. Bena, M. Wilkinson, P. Mestres, R. K. Cosner, A. D. Ames

   2026 American Control Conference, New Orleans, LA, 1942–1949 · PDF

6. Probabilistic Control Barrier Functions: Safety in Probability for Discrete-Time Stochastic Systems

   P. Mestres, B. Werner, R. K. Cosner, A. D. Ames

   2026 American Control Conference, New Orleans, LA, 110–117 · PDF

7. Feedback Optimization with State Constraints through Control Barrier Functions

   G. Delimpaltadakis*, P. Mestres*, J. Cortés, W. P. M. H. Heemels

   64th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2025, 7234–7239 · PDF

8. Anytime Safe Reinforcement Learning

   P. Mestres, A. Marzabal, J. Cortés

   7th Annual Learning for Dynamics & Control Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, 2025. PMLR 283, 221–232

9. Characterization of the Dynamical Properties of Safety Filters for Linear Planar Systems

   Y. Chen*, P. Mestres*, E. Dall'Anese, J. Cortés

   63rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Milan, Italy, 2024, 2397–2402 · PDF

10. Stabilization of Nonlinear Systems through Control Barrier Functions

    P. Mestres, K. Long, M. Leok, N. Atanasov, J. Cortés

    63rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Milan, Italy, 2024, 8858–8863 · PDF

11. Distributed and Anytime Algorithm for Network Optimization Problems with Separable Structure

    P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Singapore, 2023, 5457–5462 · PDF

12. Safe Design for Controlling Epidemic Spreading under Heterogeneous Testing Capabilities

    P. Mestres, J. Cortés

    American Control Conference, Atlanta, GA, 2022, 697–702 · PDF

* Equal contribution.

Theses

1. Control, Planning, and Learning with Control Barrier Functions in Safety-Critical Systems

   P. Mestres

   PhD thesis, UC San Diego · PDF

2. Discretization of Optimization Flows through State-Triggered Control

   P. Mestres

   Bachelor's thesis, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · PDF