Please click on the paper title for a PDF version and/or more details about the publication. Some of the published papers have significantly extended versions available on arXiv, noted below. For other papers, arXiv versions, if they exist, are usually preprints which cover largely the same material, but may differ in details.

Journal Papers
T. Shafa, M. Ornik. Guaranteed reachability on Riemannian manifolds for unknown nonlinear systems. Submitted.
Early version available as arXiv:2404.09850 [eess.SY].
N. Chakraborty, M. Ornik, K. Driggs-Campbell. Hallucination detection in foundation models for decision-making: A flexible definition and review of the state of the art. Submitted.
Early version available as arXiv:2403.16527 [cs.AI].
H. El-Kebir, M. Ornik. Sum-of-squares data-driven robustly stabilizing and contracting controller synthesis for polynomial nonlinear systems. Submitted.
Y. Meng, T. Shafa, J. Wei, M. Ornik. Online learning and control synthesis for reachable paths of unknown nonlinear systems. Submitted.
Early version available as arXiv:2403.03413 [math.OC].
A. Dey, S. Ruggerio, M. Ornik, Optimizing a model-agnostic measure of graph counterdeceptiveness via reattachment. Submitted.
Early version available as arXiv:2311.15093 [math.OC].
J.-B. Bouvier, H. Panag, R. Woollands, M. Ornik. Delayed resilient trajectory tracking after partial loss of control authority over actuators. Submitted.
Early version available under a different title as arXiv:2303.12877 [eess.SY].
J.-B. Bouvier, S. P. Nandanoori, M. Ornik. Losing control of your network? Try resilience theory. Accepted to IEEE Transactions on Control of Networked Systems, 2024.
H. El-Kebir, A. Pirosmanishvili, M. Ornik. Online guaranteed reachable set approximation for systems with changed dynamics and control authority. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2024.
Vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 726–740.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2023.3275495
[PDF]
M. O. Karabag, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Identity concealment games: How I learned to stop revealing and love the coincidences. Automatica, 2024.
Vol. 161.
DOI: 10.1016/j.automatica.2023.111482
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2105.05377 [cs.GT].
H. El-Kebir, R. Berlin, J. Bentsman, M. Ornik. Viability under degraded control authority. IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2023.
Vol. 7, pp. 3765–3770.
DOI: 10.1109/LCSYS.2023.3342059
[PDF]
Y. Wang, M. Ornik, R. Dong. Connection of optimal stopping time to s-t cut problems on trees. IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2023.
Vol. 7, pp. 3729–3734.
DOI: 10.1109/LCSYS.2023.3342562
[PDF]
J.-B. Bouvier, K. Xu, M. Ornik. Quantitative resilience of generalized integrators. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 7591–7600.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2023.3286942
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2111.04163 [eess.SY].
F. Nawaz, M. Ornik. Multiagent, multitarget path planning in Markov decision processes. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 7560–7574.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2023.3286807
[PDF] (with a slightly differently formatted title)
F. Nawaz was awarded Best Poster Award for related work at the 16th CSL Student Conference, 2021.
K. Garg, C. Dawson, K. Xu, M. Ornik, C. Fan. Model-free neural fault detection and isolation for safe control. IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2023.
Vol. 7, pp. 3169–3174.
DOI: 10.1109/LCSYS.2023.3302768
[PDF]
F. Blahoudek, P. Novotný, M. Ornik, P. Thangeda, U. Topcu. Efficient strategy synthesis for MDPs with resource constraints. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 8, pp. 4586–4601.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2022.3209612
[PDF]
Associated software tool (FiMDP — Fuel in Markov Decision Processes) available on GitHub.
M. O. Karabag, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Exploiting partial observability for optimal deception. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 4443–4450.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2022.3209959
[PDF]
M. Vora, P. Thangeda, M. N. Grussing, M. Ornik. Welfare maximization algorithm for solving budget-constrained multi-component POMDPs. IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2023.
Vol. 7, pp. 1736–1741.
DOI: 10.1109/LCSYS.2023.3280080
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2303.10302 [math.OC].
T. Shafa, M. Ornik. Reachability of nonlinear systems with unknown dynamics. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 4, pp. 2407–2414.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2022.3170855
[PDF]
J.-B. Bouvier, M. Ornik. Resilience of linear systems to partial loss of control authority. Automatica, 2023.
P. Thangeda, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Expedited online learning with spatial side information. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2023.
Vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 1479–1491.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2022.3153278
[PDF]
J.-B. Bouvier, M. Ornik. Designing resilient linear systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2022.
Vol. 67, no. 9, pp. 4832–4837.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2022.3163242
[PDF]
Extended version available under a different title as arXiv:2006.13820 [eess.SY].
J.-B. Bouvier, M. Ornik. The maximax minimax quotient theorem. Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 2022.
Vol. 192, pp. 1084–1101.
DOI: 10.1007/s10957-022-02008-z
[PDF]
M. O. Karabag, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Deception in supervisory control. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2022.
Vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 738–753.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2021.3057991
[PDF]
H. Chen, M. Ornik, K. Ho. Space exploration architecture and design framework for commercialization. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2021.
Z. Dai, K. Xu, M. Ornik. Repulsion-based p-dispersion with distance constraints in non-convex polygons. Annals of Operations Research, 2021.
Vol. 307, pp. 75–91.
DOI: 10.1007/s10479-021-04281-z
[PDF]
Associated software tool (RApDoP: Repulsively Approaching p-Dispersion on Polygons) available on GitHub.
M. Ornik. Comment on “TVOR: Finding Discrete Total Variation Outliers Among Histograms”. IEEE Access, 2021.
Vol. 9, pp. 78586–78593.
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3082900
[PDF]
Available under a different title as arXiv:2103.14693 [stat.ME].
M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Learning and planning for time-varying MDPs using maximum likelihood estimation. Journal of Machine Learning Research, 2021.
Vol. 22, no. 35, pp. 1–40.
[PDF]
M. Ornik, S. Carr, A. Israel, U. Topcu. Control-oriented learning on the fly. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2020.
Vol. 65, no. 11, pp. 4800–4807.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2019.2963293
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:1709.04889 [math.OC].
Y. Savas, M. Ornik, M. Cubuktepe, M. O. Karabag, U. Topcu. Entropy maximization for Markov decision processes under temporal logic constraints. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2020.
Vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 1552–1567.
DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2019.2922583
[PDF]
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. Chattering in the reach control problem. Automatica, 2018.
M. E. Broucke, M. Ornik, A. Mansouri. A topological obstruction in a control problem. Systems & Control Letters, 2017.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. Characterization of a topological obstruction to reach control by continuous state feedback. Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems, 2017.
M. Moarref, M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. An obstruction to solvability of the reach control problem using affine feedback. Automatica, 2016.
M. Ornik. Modeling the role of mutations and density independent dispersal in evolutionary rescue. Journal of Biological Systems, 2014.
Vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 123–132.
DOI: 10.1142/S0218339014500077
[PDF]
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
Y. Meng, R. Zhou, M. Ornik, J. Liu. Koopman-based learning of infinitesimal generators without operator logarithm. Submitted.
Extended version available as arXiv:2403.15688 [math.DS].
R. Padmanabhan, C. Bakker, S. A. Dinkar, M. Ornik. How much reserve fuel: Quantifying the maximal energy cost of system disturbances. Submitted.
E. Fernández Bravo, M. Ornik, J. T. Allison. Numerical estimation of bidirectional plant-control design coupling in control co-design. Submitted.
G. Puthumanaillam, M. Vora, M. Ornik. ComTraQ-MPC: Meta-trained DQN-MPC integration for trajectory tracking with limited active localization updates. Submitted.
Early version available as arXiv:2403.01564 [cs.RO].
H. El-Kebir, R. Berlin, J. Bentsman, M. Ornik. Viabilizability of control signals under control authority degradation. Accepted to 22nd European Control Conference, 2024.
G. Puthumanaillam, X. Liu, N. Mehr, M. Ornik. Weathering ongoing uncertainty: Learning and planning in a time-varying partially observable environment. Accepted to 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2024.
[PDF]
Preprint available as arXiv:2312.03263 [cs.RO].
T. Shafa, R. Dong, M. Ornik. Identifying single-input linear system dynamics from reachable sets. 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2023.
Pp. 3527–3532.
DOI: 10.1109/CDC49753.2023.10384274
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2309.04340 [eess.SY].
K. Jagdale, Z. S. Khan, M. Menéndez, M. Ornik. Optimal planning on a single-route transit system with modular buses. 26th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2023.
H. El-Kebir, J. Bentsman, M. Ornik. Lodestar: An integrated embedded real-time control engine. 7th IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, 2023.
Pp. 886–891.
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2203.00649 [cs.RO].
Associated software tool (Lodestar) available on ldstr.dev.
Y. Zhu, P. Thangeda, M. Ornik, K. Hauser. Few-shot adaptation for manipulating granular materials under domain shift. Robotics: Science and Systems, 2023.
X. Duan, N. Baharisangari, R. Yan, Z. Xu, M. Ornik. On a notion of resilience for Markov decision processes with reachability objectives. 22nd IFAC World Congress, 2023.
H. El-Kebir, R. Berlin, J. Bentsman, M. Ornik. Robustly linearized model predictive control for nonlinear infinite-dimensional systems. 22nd IFAC World Congress, 2023.
K. Jagdale, M. Ornik. Optimal routing of modular agents on a graph. 2023 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, 2023.
T. Shafa, M. Ornik. Maximal ellipsoid method for guaranteed reachability of unknown fully actuated systems. 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2022.
P. Thangeda, M. Ornik. Adaptive sampling site selection for robotic exploration in unknown environments. 2022 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2022.
A. Dey, M. Ornik. Post-disaster repair crew assignment optimization using minimum latency. 8th IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, 2022.
DOI: 10.1109/ISC255366.2022.9922070
[PDF]
Associated software implementation available on GitHub.
M. Ornik, J.-B. Bouvier. Assured system-level resilience for guaranteed disaster response. 8th IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, 2022.
J.-B. Bouvier, M. Ornik. Quantitative resilience of linear systems. 20th European Control Conference, 2022.
Pp. 477–482.
DOI: 10.23919/ECC55457.2022.9838147
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2201.12278 [eess.SY].
M. Ornik. Deceptive trajectory imitation using affine feedback. 2022 American Control Conference, 2022.
J.-B. Bouvier, S. P. Nandanoori, M. Ornik, S. Kundu. Distributed transient safety verification via robust control invariant sets: A microgrid application. 2022 American Control Conference, 2022.
Pp. 2202–2207.
DOI: 10.23919/ACC53348.2022.9867323
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2202.09320 [cs.SY].
F. Blahoudek, M. Cubuktepe, P. Novotný, M. Ornik, P. Thangeda, U. Topcu. Fuel in Markov decision processes (FiMDP): A practical approach to consumption. Formal Methods 2021, 2021.
Pp. 640–656.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-90870-6_34
[PDF]
Associated software tool (FiMDP — Fuel in Markov Decision Processes) available on GitHub.
H. El-Kebir, T. Shafa, A. Purushottam, M. Ornik, A. Soylemezoglu. High-frequency vibration reduction for unmanned ground vehicles on unstructured terrain. 8th International Conference on Modelling and Simulation for Autonomous Systems, 2021.
W. Zheng, P. Thangeda, Y. Savas, M. Ornik. Optimal routing in stochastic networks with reliability guarantees. 24th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2021.
J.-B. Bouvier, K. Xu, M. Ornik. Quantitative resilience of linear driftless systems. 2021 SIAM Conference on Control and Its Applications, 2021.
Pp. 32–39.
DOI: 10.1137/1.9781611976847.5
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2101.12063 [cs.SY].
H. El-Kebir, M. Ornik. Online inner approximation of reachable sets of nonlinear systems with diminished control authority. 2021 SIAM Conference on Control and Its Applications, 2021.
M. Ornik. Measuring target predictability for optimal environment design. 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2020.
M. Ornik. Guaranteed reachability for systems with unknown dynamics. 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2020.
Pp. 2756–2761.
DOI: 10.1109/CDC42340.2020.9304326
[PDF] (see end of paper for a minor erratum)
Extended version available as arXiv:1910.00803 [math.OC].
F. Nawaz, M. Ornik. Explorative probabilistic planning with unknown target locations. 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2020.
P. Thangeda, M. Ornik. PROTRIP: Probabilistic risk-aware optimal transit planner. 23rd IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2020.
DOI: 10.1109/ITSC45102.2020.9294500
[PDF]
Software implementation available on GitHub.
F. Blahoudek, T. Brázdil, P. Novotný, M. Ornik, P. Thangeda, U. Topcu. Qualitative controller synthesis for consumption Markov decision processes. 32nd International Conference on Computer-Aided Verification, 2020.
Part II, pp. 421–447.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-53291-8_22
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:2005.07227 [cs.FL].
Associated software tool (FiMDP — Fuel in Markov Decision Processes) available on GitHub.
J.-B. Bouvier, M. Ornik. Resilient reachability for linear systems. 21st IFAC World Congress, 2020.
P. Thangeda, M. Ornik. Safety-guaranteed, accelerated learning in MDPs with local side information. 2020 American Control Conference, 2020.
Y. Savas, V. Gupta, M. Ornik, L. J. Ratliff, U. Topcu. Incentive design for temporal logic objectives. 58th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2019.
Pp. 2251–2258.
DOI: 10.1109/CDC40024.2019.9029287
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:1903.07752 [math.OC].
M. O. Karabag, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Optimal deceptive and reference policies for supervisory control. 58th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2019.
Pp. 1323–1330.
DOI: 10.1109/CDC40024.2019.9029607
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:1902.00590 [math.OC].
Z. Xu, M. Ornik, A. A. Julius, U. Topcu. Information-guided temporal logic inference with prior knowledge. 2019 American Control Conference, 2019.
M. O. Karabag, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Least inferable policies for Markov decision processes. 2019 American Control Conference, 2019.
Pp. 1224–1231.
DOI: 10.23919/ACC.2019.8815129
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:1809.06482 [math.OC].
M. Ornik, S. Carr, A. Israel, U. Topcu. Myopic control of systems with unknown dynamics. 2019 American Control Conference, 2019.
M. Ornik, J. Fu, N. T. Lauffer, W. K. Perera, M. Alshiekh, M. Ono, U. Topcu. Expedited learning in MDPs with side information. 57th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2018.
M. Ornik, M. S. Moura, A. Peplowski, M. E. Broucke. Adaptive cruise control design using reach control. 21st IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2018.
Y. Savas, M. Ornik, M. Cubuktepe, U. Topcu. Entropy maximization for constrained Markov decision processes. 56th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2018.
M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Deception in optimal control. 56th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2018.
Pp. 821–828.
DOI: 10.1109/ALLERTON.2018.8635871
[PDF]
Extended version available as arXiv:1805.03090 [math.OC].
M. Bucić, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Graph-based controller synthesis for safety-constrained, resilient systems. 56th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2018.
P. Mercader, M. Ornik, P.-O. Gutman, I. Ioslovich. Optimal signal timing for multi-phase intersections. 15th IFAC Symposium on Control in Transportation Systems, 2018.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. A graph-theoretic approach to the reach control problem. 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2017.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. A nerve-theoretic result on the problem of a topological obstruction in reach control. 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2017.
M. Ornik, M. Moarref, M. E. Broucke. An automated parallel parking strategy using reach control theory. 20th IFAC World Congress, 2017.
Pp. 9419–9424.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2017.08.1699
[PDF] (see end of paper for a minor erratum)
M. Ornik, A. C. Sniderman, M. E. Broucke, G. M. T. D'Eleuterio. Pattern identification in distributed systems. 55th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2016.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. Characterizing equilibria in reach control under affine feedback. 10th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems, 2016.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. A topological obstruction to reach control by continuous state feedback. 54th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2015.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. On a topological obstruction in the reach control problem. 2015 AMMCS-CAIMS Congress, 2015.
Other Conference Papers
H. El-Kebir, M. Ornik, Y. K. Nakka, C. Choi, A. Rahmani. Robust detection, identification, and mitigation of simultaneous sensor and actuator faults. IEEE Aerospace Conference, 2024.
G. Puthumanaillam, M. Vora, T. Shafa, Y. Li, M. Ornik, S. Mitra. Assured collision avoidance for learned controllers: A case study of ACAS Xu. 2024 AIAA SciTech Forum, 2024.
G. Puthumanaillam, Y. Mamik, M. Ornik. Online learning and planning in time-varying environments: An aircraft case study. 2024 AIAA SciTech Forum, 2024.
P. Thangeda, A. Goel, E. Tevere, Y. Zhu, E. Kramer, A. Daca, H. Nayar, K. Hauser, M. Ornik. Learning and autonomy for extraterrestrial terrain sampling: An experience report from OWLAT deployment. 2024 AIAA SciTech Forum, 2024.
J.-B. Bouvier, H. Panag, R. Woollands, M. Ornik. Resilience of orbital inspections to partial loss of control authority of the chaser satellite. 2022 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2022.
J.-B. Bouvier received the John V. Breakwell Student Award by the American Astronautical Society Space Flight Mechanics Committee for this paper.
[PDF]
H. El-Kebir, M. Ornik. In-flight air density estimation and prediction for hypersonic flight vehicles. 23rd AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, 2020.
H. Chen, M. Ornik, K. Ho. Incentive design for commercial participation in space logistics infrastructure development and deployment. 70th International Astronautical Congress, 2019.
H. Chen received the Luigi G. Napolitano Award of the International Astronautical Federation for his contributions in this paper.
[PDF]
D. Ge, M. Ornik, U. Topcu. Robust myopic control for systems with imperfect observations. 2018 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference, 2018.
Pp. 3057-3072.
[PDF]
Also presented in a modified version at the 15th Annual Conference of Committee of Deep Space Exploration Technology, Chinese Society of Astronautics, 2018. Chinese title: 基于状态观测的鲁棒短视控制策略. [PDF]
Theses and Other Supervised Research Papers
M. Ornik. New Mathematical Tools in Reach Control Theory. 2017.
Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto
[PDF]
M. Ornik. Some Observations on Orbits of Driftless Bilinear Systems. 2013.
M.Sc. project report/thesis, Queen’s University
[PDF]
M. Ornik, A. Šušnjara. Neki prilozi teoriji egzaktne rekonstrukcije poligona. 2012.
English title: Some Contributions to the Theory of Exact Polygon Reconstruction
Supervised by Z. Drmač.
University of Zagreb Rector’s Award winning research paper
[PDF]
M. Berljafa, S. Muhvić, M. Ornik. Računanje Gaussovih integracijskih formula za sažimajuću bazu. 2011.
English title: Computation of Gaussian Quadrature Formulae for Compression Basis
Supervised by S. Singer.
University of Zagreb Rector’s Award nominated research paper
[PDF]
Preprints and Supplementary Material
G. Puthumanaillam, M. Vora, P. Thangeda, M. Ornik. A moral imperative: The need for continual superalignment of large language models. 2024.
Available as arXiv:2403.14683 [cs.CY].
M. Ornik, M. Moarref, M. E. Broucke. Numerical values used for simulations in "An automated parallel parking strategy using reach control theory". 2017.
M. Ornik, M. E. Broucke. Some results on an affine obstruction to reach control. 2015.