Convex Computations for Controlled Safety Invariant Sets of Black-box Discrete-time Dynamical Systems

Abstract

Identifying controlled safety invariant sets (CSISs) is essential for safety-critical systems. This paper addresses the problem of computing CSISs for black-box discrete-time systems, where the dynamics are unknown and only limited simulation data are available. Traditionally, a CSIS requires that for every state in the set, there exists a control input that keeps the system within the set at the next step. However, enforcing such universal invariance, i.e., requiring the set to remain controlled invariant for all states, is often overly restrictive or impractical for black-box systems. To address this, we introduce the notion of a Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) CSIS, in which, with prescribed confidence, there exists a suitable control input to keep the system within the set at the next step for at least a specified fraction of the states. Our approach leverages barrier functions and scenario optimization, yielding a tractable linear programming method for estimating PAC CSISs. Several illustrative examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.