Unmanned Systems Lab · UTSA

Publications

Publications

2 books and book chapters, 57 journal articles, and 102 conference papers, 2007 to present. Citation counts and preprints are on Google Scholar.

Books and book chapters

2017

Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, E. Garcia, and C. Schumacher, “Distributed Multi-agent Coordination with Uncertain Interactions: A Probabilistic Perspective,” Cooperative Control of Multi-Agent Systems: Theory and Applications, Wiley.

2011

W. Ren and Y. Cao, “Distributed Multi-agent Networks,” Communications and Control Engineering Series, Springer-Verlag, London, ISBN 978-0-85729-168-4.

Journal articles 57

2026

P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Engagement-Zone-Aware Input-Constrained Guidance for Safe Target Interception,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, accepted.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Three-dimensional Integrated Guidance and Control for Leader-Follower Flexible Formation of Fixed Wing UAVs,” Aerospace Science and Technology, in press.
U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Learning Fair Policies in Multi-Objective Preference-based Reinforcement Learning,” Machine Learning Journal, vol. 115, no. 23–56.

2025

M. Wu and Y. Cao, “Robust Human-Machine Teaming through Reinforcement Learning from Failure via Sparse Reward Densification,” IEEE Control Systems Letters, vol. 9, pp. 2315–2320.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Fair Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Traffic Control,” ACM Journal on Autonomous Transportation Systems, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1–24.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “3D Guidance Law for Flexible Target Enclosing with Inherent Safety,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 2088–2095.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Self-organizing Multiagent Target Enclosing under Limited Information and Safety Guarantees,” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 1066–1078.

2024

P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, and I. Weintraub, “Relational Maneuvering of Leader-Follower Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Flexible Formation,” IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 54, no. 10, pp. 5598–5609.
F. Tao, M. Wu, and Y. Cao, “Generalized Maximum Entropy Reinforcement Learning via Reward Shaping,” IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1563–1572.

2023

A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “Three-Dimensional Autonomous Guidance for Enclosing a Stationary Target Within Arbitrary Smooth Geometrical Shapes,” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 9247–9256.
A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “3-D Guidance Law for Target Enclosing within Arbitrary Smooth Shapes,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 2224–2234.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, Y. Cao, D. Tran, D. Casbeer, and I. Weintraub, “Energy-Efficient Ring Formation Control with Constrained Inputs,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 46, no. 7, pp. 1397–1407.
A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “Three-dimensional Nonlinear Guidance Law for Target Circumnavigation,” IEEE Control Systems Letters, vol. 7, pp. 655–660.

2022

A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “A Nonlinear Guidance Law for Target Enclosing with Arbitrary Smooth Shapes,” AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 2182–2192.

2021

H. Zhan, F. Tao, and Y. Cao, “Human-guided Robot Behavior Learning: A GAN-assisted Preference-based Reinforcement Learning Approach,” IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 3545–3552.
F. Tao, R. Suresh, J. Votion, and Y. Cao, “Graph Based Multi-layer K-means++ (G-MLKM) for Sensory Pattern Analysis in Constrained Spaces,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 2069–2090.
H. Zhan and Y. Cao, “Efficient Multi-objective Reinforcement Learning via Multiple-gradient Descent with Iteratively Discovered Weight-Vector Sets,” Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, vol. 70, pp. 319–349.
F. Tao and Y. Cao, “Resilient Learning of Computational Models with Noisy Labels,” IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computational Intelligence, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 351–360.

2020

M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, M. Polycarpou, and T. Parisini, “Distributed Fault-Tolerant Control of Multi-agent Systems: An Adaptive Learning Approach,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 420–432.

2019

J. Votion and Y. Cao, “Diversity-Based Cooperative Multi-Vehicle Path Planning for Risk Management in Costmap Environments,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 66, no. 8, pp. 6117–6127.
F. Tao, J. Votion, and Y. Cao, “An Iterative Multi-Layer Unsupervised Learning Approach for Sensory Data Reliability Evaluation,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 2199–2209.

2018

M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, M. Polycarpou, and T. Parisini, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Leader-Following Formation Control of Nonlinear Uncertain Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, vol. 28, no. 15, pp. 4287–4308.
M. Khalili, X. Zhang, M. Polycarpou, T. Parisini, and Y. Cao, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control of Uncertain Multi-Agent Systems,” Automatica, vol. 87, pp. 142–151.
E. Garcia, D. Casbeer, and Y. Cao, “An Event-triggered Control Approach for the Leader Tracking Problem with Heterogeneous Agents,” International Journal of Control, vol. 91, no. 5, pp. 1209–1221.

2017

N. Ahmed, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and D. Kingston, “Multi-target Localization on Road Networks with Hidden Markov Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters,” AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems, vol. 14, no. 11, pp. 573–596.
D. Milutinovic, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and D. Kingston, “Coordinate Frame Free Dubins Vehicle Circumnavigation Using Only Range Based Measurements,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, vol. 27, no. 16, pp. 2937–2950.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Periodic Event-triggered Synchronization of Linear Multi-agent Systems with Communication Delays,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 366–371.

2016

E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralized Event-triggered Consensus of Double-integrator Multi-agent Systems with Packet Losses and Communication Delays,” IET Control Theory and Applications, vol. 10, no. 15, pp. 1835–1843.
S. Manyam, S. Rathinam, S. Darbha, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and P. Chandler, “GPS Denied UAV Routing with Communication Constraints,” Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 691–703.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, D. Casbeer, and C. Schumacher, “Finite-time Connectivity-Preserving Consensus of Networked Nonlinear Agents with Unknown Lipschitz Terms,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 1700–1705.

2015

Y. Cao, “UAV Circumnavigating an Unknown Target Under a GPS-denied Environment with Range-only Measurements,” Automatica, vol. 55, no. 5, pp. 150–158.
A. Hashemi, Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, and G. Yin, “UAV Circumnavigation Using Noisy Range-based Measurements without GPS Information,” ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, vol. 37, no. 3.

2014

Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Finite-time Consensus for Multi-agent Networks with Unknown Inherent Nonlinear Dynamics,” Automatica, vol. 50, no. 10, pp. 2648–2656.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralized Event-Triggered Consensus with General Linear Dynamics,” Automatica, vol. 50, no. 10, pp. 2633–2640.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Model-based Event-triggered Multi-vehicle Coordinated Tracking Control Using Reduced Order Models,” Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. 351, no. 8, pp. 4271–4286.

2013

E. Garcia, Y. Cao, H. Yu, P. Antsaklis, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralised Event-triggered Cooperative Control with Limited Communication,” International Journal of Control, vol. 86, no. 9, pp. 1479–1488.
Y. Cao, W. Yu, W. Ren, and G. Chen, “An Overview of Recent Progress in the Study of Distributed Multi-agent Coordination,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 427–438.

2012

F. Chen, Y. Cao, and W. Ren, “Distributed Average Tracking of Multiple Time-Varying Reference Signals with Bounded Derivatives,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 57, no. 12, pp. 3169–3174.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, and M. Egerstedt, “Distributed Containment Control with Multiple Stationary or Dynamic Leaders in Fixed and Switching Directed Networks,” Automatica, vol. 48, no. 8, pp. 1586–1597.
L. Hou, G. Zong, Y. Wu, and Y. Cao, “Exponential L2–L∞ Output Tracking Control for Discrete-time Switched System with Time-varying Delay,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 1175–1194.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Coordinated Tracking with Reduced Interaction via a Variable Structure Approach,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 33–48.

2011

Y. Cao, D. Stuart, W. Ren, and Z. Meng, “Distributed Containment Control for Multiple Autonomous Vehicles with Double-integrator Dynamics: Algorithms and Experiments,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 929–938.
Z. Meng, W. Ren, Y. Cao, and Z. You, “Leaderless and Leader-following Consensus with Communication and Input Delays under a Directed Network Topology,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 75–88.

2010

F. Chen, W. Ren, and Y. Cao, “Surrounding Control in Cooperative Agent Networks,” Systems & Control Letters, vol. 59, no. 11, pp. 704–712.
Y. Cao, D. Stuart, and W. Ren, “Coordinated Collective Motion Patterns in a Discrete-time Setting with Experiments,” IET Control Theory & Applications, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 2579–2591.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Formation Control for Fractional-order Systems: Dynamic Interaction and Absolute/Relative Damping,” Systems & Control Letters, vol. 59, no. 3–4, pp. 233–240.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, and Z. Meng, “Decentralized Finite-time Sliding Mode Estimators and Their Applications in Decentralized Finite-time Formation Tracking,” Systems & Control Letters, vol. 59, no. 9, pp. 522–529.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Optimal Linear-Consensus Algorithms: An LQR Perspective,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 819–830.
Y. Cao, Y. Li, W. Ren, and Y. Chen, “Distributed Coordination of Networked Fractional-Order Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 362–370.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Multi-vehicle Coordination for Double-integrator Dynamics Under Fixed Undirected/Directed Interaction in a Sampled-data Setting,” International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, vol. 20, no. 9, pp. 987–1000.
Z. Meng, Y. Cao, and W. Ren, “Stability and Convergence Analysis of Multi-agent Consensus with Information Reuse,” International Journal of Control, vol. 83, no. 5, pp. 1081–1092.
L. Ballard, Y. Cao, and W. Ren, “Distributed Discrete-time Coupled Harmonic Oscillators with Application to Synchronized Motion Coordination,” IET Control Theory & Applications, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 806–816.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Sampled-data Discrete-time Coordination Algorithms for Double-integrator Dynamics under Dynamic Directed Interaction,” International Journal of Control, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 506–515.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Multi-agent Consensus Using Both Current and Outdated States with Fixed and Undirected Interaction,” Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 95–106.
H. Chao, Y. Cao, and Y. Chen, “Autopilots for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Survey,” International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 36–44.

2009

Y. Cao, W. Ren, and Y. Li, “Distributed Discrete-time Coordinated Tracking with a Time-varying Reference State and Limited Communication,” Automatica, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 1299–1305.

2008

W. Ren and Y. Cao, “Simulation and Experimental Study of Consensus Algorithms for Multiple Mobile Robots with Information Feedback,” Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 73–87.

Conference papers 103

2026

U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Right Goal, Wrong Body: Re-grounding Frozen VLAs under Actuation Shift,” Conference on Robot Learning, Workshop on Science of Physical AI Safety.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Beyond the Weighted Sum: Rubric Aggregation for Multi-Criterion LLM Alignment,” Conference on Language Modeling, Workshop on Agent Behavior.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Inference-Time Policy Alignment for Fair Reinforcement Learning,” Reinforcement Learning Conference.
U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Adaptive Event-Triggered Policy Gradient for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning,” American Control Conference.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Safety-Critical Input-Constrained Nonlinear Intercept Guidance in Multiple Engagement Zones,” American Control Conference.

2025

C. Wallace, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “RECOLLAB: Retrieval-Augmented LLMs for Cooperative Ad-hoc Teammate Modeling,” NeurIPS Workshop on Bridging Language, Agent, and World Models for Reasoning and Planning, December.
P. Li, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “Symbolic Policy Distillation for Interpretable Reinforcement Learning,” NeurIPS Workshop on Mechanistic Interpretability, December.
M. Wu, D. White, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “Human-Inspired Multi-Level Reinforcement Learning,” NeurIPS Workshop on Aligning Reinforcement Learning Experimentalists and Theorists, December.
C. Wallace, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “TransAM: Transformer-Based Agent Modeling for Multi-Agent Systems via Local Trajectory Encoding,” Reinforcement Learning Conference, August.
P. Li, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “From Explainability to Interpretability: Interpretable Reinforcement Learning via Model Explanations,” Reinforcement Learning Conference, August.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Learning Fair Pareto-Optimal Policies in Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning,” Reinforcement Learning Conference, August.
M. Wu, D. White, E. Rose, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “Multi-Task Reward Learning from Human Ratings,” ICML Workshop on Models of Human Feedback for AI Alignment, July.
U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Adaptive Event-triggered Reinforcement Learning Control for Complex Nonlinear Systems,” American Control Conference, July.
J. Cofield, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “MODIFLY: A Scalable End-to-end Multi-Agent Simulation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,” AAMAS Workshop on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, May.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Towards Fair and Efficient Policy Learning in Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning,” International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, May.
M. Wu and Y. Cao, “On-Policy Reinforcement Learning from Failure via Sparse Reward Densification,” International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, May.
P. Li, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “From Explainability to Interpretability: Interpretable Policies in Reinforcement Learning via Model Explanation,” AAAI Workshop on Deployable Artificial Intelligence, March.
E. Rose, D. White, M. Wu, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “Performance Optimization of Ratings-Based Reinforcement Learning,” AAAI Collaborative AI and Modelling of Humans Bridge Program, March.
M. Wu, D. White, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “RbRL2.0: Integrated Reward and Policy Learning for Rating-based Reinforcement Learning,” AAAI Collaborative AI and Modelling of Humans Bridge Program, March.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Fairness in Traffic Control: Decentralized Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning with Generalized Gini Welfare Functions,” AAAI Workshop on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Transportation Autonomy, March.
S. Bandela, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Target Capture in the Presence of a Defender,” AIAA SciTech, January.
P. Ranjan, Y. Cao, and A. Sinha, “Three-Dimensional Relational Maneuvering Guidance Law for Flexible Leader-Follower Formation,” AIAA SciTech, January.

2024

M. Wu, F. Tao, and Y. Cao, “Learn to Outperform Demonstrators via Reward and Policy Co-learning,” Reinforcement Learning Conference Workshop on Reinforcement Learning Beyond Rewards, August.
U. Siddique, P. Li, and Y. Cao, “Towards Fair and Equitable Policy Learning in Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning,” Reinforcement Learning Conference Workshop on Coordination and Cooperation in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, August.
C. Wallace, U. Siddique, and Y. Cao, “Opponent Transformer: Modeling Opponent Policies as a Sequence Problem,” Reinforcement Learning Conference Workshop on Coordination and Cooperation in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, August.
M. Wu, U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Offline Reinforcement Learning with Failure Under Sparse Reward Environments,” International Conference on Computing and Machine Intelligence, April.
D. White, M. Wu, E. Novoseller, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “Rating-based Reinforcement Learning,” AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “On Deep Reinforcement Learning for Target Capture Autonomous Guidance,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference.
A. Sinha, D. White, and Y. Cao, “Deep Reinforcement Learning-based Optimal Time-constrained Intercept Guidance,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Robust UAV Guidance Law for Safe Target Circumnavigation with Limited Information and Autopilot Lag Considerations,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference.

2023

D. White, M. Wu, E. Novoseller, V. Lawhern, N. Waytowich, and Y. Cao, “Rating-based Reinforcement Learning,” ICML Workshop on The Many Facets of Preference-Based Learning.
U. Siddique, A. Sinha, and Y. Cao, “Fairness in Preference-based Reinforcement Learning,” ICML Workshop on The Many Facets of Preference-Based Learning.
A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “3-D Nonlinear Guidance Law for Target Circumnavigation,” American Control Conference.
P. Ranjan, A. Sinha, Y. Cao, D. Tran, D. Casbeer, and I. Weintraub, “Energy-Efficient Ring Formation Control with Constrained Inputs,” AIAA SciTech.
A. Sinha and Y. Cao, “Nonlinear Guidance Law for Target Enclosing with Arbitrary Smooth Shapes,” AIAA SciTech.
M. Wu, F. Tao, and Y. Cao, “Value of Potential Field in Reward Specification for Robotic Control via Deep Reinforcement Learning,” AIAA SciTech.
S. Bandela and Y. Cao, “Drone Navigation in Unreal Engine Using Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning,” AIAA SciTech.

2022

P. Ranjan, J. Votion, Y. Cao, D. Tran, D. Casbeer, and I. Weintraub, “Energy-aware 3D Leader-Follower Flight Trajectory Optimization for Fixed-Wing Aircraft,” AIAA SciTech.

2021

H. Zhan, W. Lin, and Y. Cao, “Deep Model Compression via Two-Stage Deep Reinforcement Learning,” European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECML-PKDD).
J. Barron, V. Praveen, R. Nagarka, Y. Cao, and W. Gao, “IMU-based Autonomous Solar Tracking System with Soft Actuators: A Machine Learning Approach,” IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications.
H. Zhan, F. Tao, and Y. Cao, “Human-guided Robot Behavior Learning: A GAN-assisted Preference-based Reinforcement Learning Approach,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
J. Votion, F. Tao, and Y. Cao, “Risk-Aware Multi-Agent Path Planning for Target Detection: A Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach,” AIAA SciTech.
F. Tao, M. Cortez, and Y. Cao, “Infrared Camera Assisted UAV Autonomous Control via Deep Reinforcement Learning,” AIAA SciTech.

2020

H. Zhan, Y. Cao, M. Cortez, and A. Harris, “Proactive Data-driven UAV State Estimation via Online End-to-end Learning,” AIAA SciTech, Orlando, FL.
J. Votion and Y. Cao, “Operational Risk Estimation via a Decomposition-Based Uncertainty Propagation Approach,” AIAA SciTech, Orlando, FL.
F. Tao, J. Votion, and Y. Cao, “Risk-aware Multi-robot Collaboration with Arrival Deadlines in Uncertain Environments,” AIAA SciTech, Orlando, FL.

2019

J. Hong, J. Votion, Y. Cao, and Y. Jin, “Adaptive Communication and Control Co-Design for Multi-Agent Coordination with Second-Order Dynamics,” American Control Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

2018

M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, M. Polycarpou, and T. Parisini, “Distributed Fault-tolerant Control of High-order Input-output Multi-agent Systems,” IFAC SAFEPROCESS, Warsaw, Poland.
M. Khalili, X. Zhang, M. A. Gilson, and Y. Cao, “Distributed Fault-tolerant Formation Control of Cooperative Mobile Robots,” IFAC SAFEPROCESS, Warsaw, Poland.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralized Event-Triggered Consensus of Autonomous Agents over Unreliable Communication Networks,” AIAA SciTech, January.
R. Suresh, F. Tao, J. Votion, and Y. Cao, “Machine Learning Approaches for Multi-sensor Data Pattern Recognition: K-means, Deep Neural Networks, and Multi-layer K-means,” AIAA SciTech, January.

2017

M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, M. Polycarpou, and T. Parisini, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control of a Class of High-Order Nonlinear Uncertain Multi-Agent Systems,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, December.
J. Votion and Y. Cao, “Multi-Objective Cooperative Search of Spatially Diverse Routes in Uncertain Environments,” IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, August.
Y. Cao, E. Pasiliao, and J. Hong, “Towards Energy-Efficient Communication Management in the Distributed Control of Networked Cyber-Physical Systems,” American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, May.
E. Garcia, S. Mou, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “An Event-Triggered Consensus Approach for Distributed Clock Synchronization,” American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, May.
Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, N. Ahmed, and D. Kingston, “Probabilistic Learning of Target Density Distribution,” AIAA SciTech, Grapevine, TX, January.

2016

Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, E. Garcia, and X. Zhang, “Towards Cost-effective Distributed Information Fusion with Partially Active Sensors in Directed Networks,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, NV, December.
M. Khalili, X. Zhang, and Y. Cao, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Second-order Multi-agent Systems with Actuator Faults,” Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society, Denver, CO, October.
Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, D. Milutinovic, and D. Kingston, “Collective Circular Motion and Cooperative Circumnavigation for Nonholonomic Mobile Robots Using Range-based Measurements,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, San Diego, CA, January.

2015

M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, M. Polycarpou, and T. Parisini, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control of Nonlinear Uncertain Second-order Multi-agent Systems,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Osaka, Japan, December.
D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, E. Garcia, and D. Milutinovic, “Average Bridge Consensus: Dealing with Active-Passive Sensors,” ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Columbus, OH, October.
M. Khalili, X. Zhang, Y. Cao, and J. A. Muse, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Consensus Control of Multi-Agent Systems with Actuator Faults,” Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society, Coronado, CA, October.
M. Khalili, X. Zhang, M. Polycarpou, T. Parisini, and Y. Cao, “Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Control of Uncertain Multi-agent Systems,” IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety of Technical Processes, Paris, France, September.
Y. Cao, “Consensus of Multi-agent Systems with State Constraints: A Unified View of Opinion Dynamics and Containment Control,” American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, July.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, X. Wang, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralized Event-Triggered Consensus of Linear Multi-agent Systems under Directed Graphs,” American Control Conference, Chicago, IL, July.
N. Ahmed, M. Campbell, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and D. Kingston, “Fully Bayesian Learning and Spatial Reasoning with Flexible Human Sensor Networks,” International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems, Seattle, WA.
N. Ahmed, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and D. Kingston, “Bayesian Hidden Markov Models for UAV-enabled Target Localization on Road Networks with Soft-hard Data,” SPIE Defense + Security Symposium, Baltimore, MD.
Y. Cao, D. Kingston, and S. Rasmussen, “UAV Circumnavigation under a GPS-denied Environment: Algorithms and Experiments,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference.

2014

E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Event-Triggered Cooperative Control with General Linear Dynamics and Communication Delays,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Los Angeles, CA, December.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Decentralized Sub-optimal Minimum-time Consensus,” ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, San Antonio, TX, October.
A. Hashemi, Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, and G. Yin, “UAV Circumnavigation of an Unknown Target Without Location Information Using Noisy Range-based Measurements,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, June.
Y. Cao, “UAV Circumnavigating an Unknown Target Using Range Measurement and Estimated Range Rate,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, June.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Cooperative Control with General Linear Dynamics and Limited Communication: Periodic Updates,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, June.
D. Milutinovic, D. Casbeer, Y. Cao, and D. Kingston, “Coordinate Frame Free Dubins Vehicle Circumnavigation,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, June.
E. Garcia, Y. Cao, and D. Casbeer, “Cooperative Control with General Linear Dynamics and Limited Communication: Centralized and Decentralized Event-Triggered Control Strategies,” American Control Conference, Portland, OR, June.

2013

Y. Cao, J. Muse, D. Casbeer, and D. Kingston, “Circumnavigation of an Unknown Target Using UAVs with Range and Range Rate Measurements,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Florence, Italy, December.
D. Casbeer, K. Meier, and Y. Cao, “Estimating the State of an Intruder with a UAV and Unattended Ground Sensors,” AIAA InfoTech@Aerospace Conference, Boston, MA, August.
Y. Cao, D. Casbeer, and C. Schumacher, “Reaching Consensus in the Sense of Probability,” American Control Conference, Washington, DC, June.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, D. Casbeer, and C. Schumacher, “Finite-Time Consensus of Networked Lipschitz Nonlinear Agents under Communication Constraints,” American Control Conference, Washington, DC, June.

2012

Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Finite-time Consensus for Single-integrator Kinematics with Unknown Inherent Nonlinear Dynamics Under a Directed Interaction Graph,” American Control Conference, Montreal, Canada, June.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Finite-time Consensus for Second-order Systems with Unknown Inherent Nonlinear Dynamics Under an Undirected Interaction Graph,” American Control Conference, Montreal, Canada, June.

2011

Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Finite-time Consensus for Second-order Multi-agent Networks with Inherent Nonlinear Dynamics Under an Undirected Fixed Graph,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Orlando, FL, December.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, F. Chen, and G. Zong, “Finite-time Consensus of Multi-agent Networks with Inherent Nonlinear Dynamics Under an Undirected Interaction Graph,” American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Multi-Agent Coordination: A Comparison Lemma Based Approach,” American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA.
F. Chen, Y. Cao, and W. Ren, “Distributed Computation of the Average of Multiple Time-varying Reference Signals,” American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA.

2010

Y. Cao, W. Ren, and Z. Meng, “Decentralized Finite-time Sliding Mode Estimators with Applications to Formation Tracking,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Y. Cao, D. Stuart, W. Ren, and Z. Meng, “Distributed Containment Control for Double-Integrator Dynamics: Algorithms and Experiments,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Coordinated Tracking via a Variable Structure Approach — Part I: Consensus Tracking,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Coordinated Tracking via a Variable Structure Approach — Part II: Swarm Tracking,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Z. Meng, W. Ren, Y. Cao, and Z. You, “Some Stability and Boundedness Conditions for Second-order Leaderless and Leader-following Consensus with Communication and Input Delays,” American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD.

2009

Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Containment Control with Multiple Stationary or Dynamic Leaders Under a Directed Interaction Graph,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Shanghai, China, December.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Distributed Coordination of Fractional-order Systems with Extensions to Directed Dynamic Networks and Absolute/Relative Damping,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Shanghai, China, December.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “LQR-based Optimal Linear Consensus Algorithms,” American Control Conference, St. Louis, MO, June.
Y. Cao and W. Ren, “Sampled-Data Formation Control under Dynamic Directed Interaction,” American Control Conference, St. Louis, MO, June.

2008

Y. Cao, Y. Li, W. Ren, and Y. Chen, “Distributed Coordination Algorithms for Multiple Fractional-order Systems,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Cancun, Mexico, December.
W. Ren and Y. Cao, “Convergence of Sampled-data Consensus Algorithms for Double-integrator Dynamics,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Cancun, Mexico, December.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, and Y. Li, “Distributed Discrete-time Consensus with a Time-varying Reference State,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, Honolulu, HI.
Y. Li, Y. Chen, I. Podlubny, and Y. Cao, “Mittag-Leffler Stability of Fractional Order Nonlinear Dynamic Systems,” IFAC Workshop on Fractional Differentiation and its Applications, Ankara, Turkey.
Y. Li, Y. Chen, and Y. Cao, “Fractional Order Universal Adaptive Stabilization,” IFAC Workshop on Fractional Differentiation and its Applications, Ankara, Turkey.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, and Y. Chen, “Multi-Agent Consensus Using Both Current and Outdated States,” IFAC World Congress, Seoul, Korea, July.
H. Chao, M. Baumann, A. Jensen, Y. Chen, Y. Cao, W. Ren, and M. McKee, “Band-reconfigurable Multi-UAV-based Cooperative Remote Sensing for Real-time Water Management and Distributed Irrigation Control,” IFAC World Congress, Seoul, Korea, July.

2007

H. Chao, Y. Cao, and Y. Chen, “Autopilots for Small Fixed-wing Unmanned Air Vehicles: A Survey,” IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, Harbin, China, August.
Y. Cao, W. Ren, N. Sorensen, L. Ballard, A. Reiter, and J. Kennedy, “Experiments in Consensus-based Distributed Cooperative Control of Multiple Mobile Robots,” IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, Harbin, China, August.