Publications

Please notice that this page is not updated regularly. Please visit my lab’s website (link) or my Google Scholar page (link) for my most recent publications.

2023

• Tammer Barkouki, Ziquan Deng, Zhaodan Kong and Stephen Robinson, Explainable AI Design Goals and Evaluation Metrics for Space Exploration: A Survey of Human Spaceflight Domain Experts, AIAA SciTech Forum, National Harbor, MD. ​​
• Nicolas Michel, Peng Wei, Zhaodan Kong and Xinfan Lin, Energy-optimal UAV Motion Planning and Control based on Integrated System Physical Dynamics, Journal of Dynamical Systems, Measurement and Control, 145(4), pp. 1-27.
• Ziquan Deng, James Eshima, James Nabity and Zhaodan Kong, Causal Fault Explanation for Environmental Control and Life Support System Anomaly Response, IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 26471-26482. 
• Gregory Disse, Bharadwaj Nandakumar, Francois Pauzin, Gary Blumenthal, Zhaodan Kong, Jochen Ditterich and Karen Moxon, Neural Ensemble Dynamics in Trunk and Hindlimb Sensorimotor Cortex Encode for The Control of Postural Stability, Cell Reports, 42(4), pp. 112347. 
• Prabhash Ragbir, Ajith Kaduwela, David Passovoy, Preet Amin, Shuchen Ye, Christopher Wallis, Christopher Alaimo, Thomas Young and Zhaodan Kong, UAV-based Wildland Fire Air Toxics Data Collection and Analysis, Sensors, 23(7), pp. 3561.
• Xiaoxiao Wang, Fanyu Meng, Zhaodan Kong, Xin Chen and Xin Liu, Causal Explanation for Reinforcement Learning: Quantifying State and Temporal Importance, Applied Intelligence. 
• Xiaoxiao Wang, Minda Zhao, Fanyu Meng, Xin Liu, Zhaodan Kong and Xin Chen, Quantifying Causal Path-specific Importance in Structural Causal Model, Computation, 11(7), pp. 133. 
• Ashkan Zehfroosh, Stavros G. Vougioukas and Zhaodan Kong, Efficient Re-synthesis of Control Barrier Function via Safe Exploration, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Singapore.
• Nicolas Michel, Peng Wei, Zhaodan Kong and Xinfan Lin, Energy-optimal Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Motion Planning and Control Based on Integrated System Physical Dynamics, Modelling, Estimation, and Control Conference (MECC), Lake Tahoe, NV.

2022

• Peng Wei, Ryan Liang, Andrew Michelmore and Zhaodan Kong, Vision-Based 2D Navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Riverine Environments with Imitation Learning, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 104(47).
• Xin Liu, Zhaodan Kong and Fanyu Meng, Autonomous Greenhouse Control: A Bayesian Optimization and Model-based Reinforcement Learning Approach, International Conference on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production (DIGICROP), held virtually.
• Nicolas Michel, Zhaodan Kong and Xinfan Lin, Energy-efficient UAV Trajectory Generation Based on System-level Modeling of Multi-Physical Dynamics, American Control Conference (ACC), Atlanta, GA.
• Peng Wei, Xinfan Lin and Zhaodan Kong, System Identification of Wind Effects on Multirotor Aircraft, International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications, vol. 6, pp. 104-118.
• Na Ma, Anil Mantri, Graham Bough, Ayush Patnaik, Siddhesh Yadav, Christian Nansen and Zhaodan Kong, Data-Driven Vermiculite Distribution Modelling for UAV-Based Precision Pest Management, Frontiers in Robotics and AI.
• Nicolas Michel, Anish Kumar Sinha, Peng Wei, Zhaodan Kong and Xinfan Lin, Modeling and Validation of Electric Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System Energy Dynamics, eTransportation, vol. 12, pp. 100173.
• Karen Moxon, Jochen Ditterich and Zhaodan Kong, Brain-machine Interfaces: From Resotirng Sensorimotor Control to Augmenting Cognition, Handbook of Neuroengineering, pp. 1-38.
• Gregory Bales and Zhaodan Kong, Neurophysiological and Behavioral Differences in Human-Multiagent Tasks: An EEG Network Perspective, ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, 11(4), pp. 1-25.​​
• Ziquan Deng, James Eshima, James Nabity and Zhaodan Kong, Causal Fault Explanation for Environmental Control and Life Support System Anomaly Response (poster), SmartHab Workshop, San Antonio, TX.
• Jason Dekarske, Zhaodan Kong and Sanjay Joshi, Operationalizing Human Cognitive State Assessment (poster), SmartHab Workshop, San Antonio, TX.

2021

• Gang Chen, Mei Liu and Zhaodan Kong, Temporal-Logic-Based Semantic Fault Diagnosis with Time-Series Data from Industrial Internet of Things, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 68(55), 4393-4403.
• Peng Wei, Xinfan Lin and Zhaodan Kong, System Identification of Wind Effects on Multirotor Aircraft, International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications, in press.
• Ziquan Deng and Zhaodan Kong, Interpretable Fault Diagnosis for Cyber-Physical Systems: A Learning Perspective, Computer, 54(9), 30-38.

2020

• Fernando H. Iost Filho, Wieke B. Heldens, Zhaodan Kong and Elvira S. de Lange, Drones: Innovative Technology for Use in Precision Pest Management, Journal of Economic Entomology, 113(1), 1-25.
• Nicolas Michel, Zhaodan Kong and Xinfan Lin, Optimal Control of a Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based on a Multiphysical Model, ASME 2020 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC), Pittsburg, PA.
• Ziquan Deng and Zhaodan Kong, Multi-Agent Cooperative Attack-Defense Strategy Against One Single Attacker, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5(4), 5772-5778.
• Gang Chen, Xinfan Lin and Zhaodan Kong, Data-Driven Real-Timed-Failure-Propagation-Graph Refinement for Complex System Fault Diagnosis, IEEE Control Systems Letters, 5(3), 1049-1054.
• Allison Anderson, Torin Clark and Zhaodan Kong, Adaptive Autonomy for Future Spacecraft Habitats, International Conference on Social Robotics: Human Robot Interaction for Space Robotics Workshop, Golden, CO (held virtually).

2019

• Nicolas Michel, Anish Kumar Sinha, Zhaodan Kong, and Xinfan Lin, Multiphysical Modeling of Energy Dynamics for Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Atlanta, GA.
• Gang Chen, Mei Liu, and Zhaodan Kong, Semantic Inference for Cyber-Physical Systems with Signal Temporal Logic, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Nice, France.
• Peng Wei, Sui Nam Chan, Seongkyu Lee, and Zhaodan Kong, Mitigating Ground Effect On Mini Quadcopters with Model Reference Adaptive Control, International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications, 3(3), 283-297.
• April L. Teske, Gang Chen, Christian Nansen, and Zhaodan Kong, Optimized Dispensing by Multirotor UAVs in Wind: A Distribution Pattern Modelling Approach for Precision Pest Management, Biosystems Engineering, 187, 226-238.
• Aravind Sreejith, Ajith Kaduwela, and Zhaodan Kong, Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Episodic Air Pollutant Measurements, Refinery And Chemical Industry Emissions Symposium, Davis, CA.
  

2018

• Gang Chen and Zhaodan Kong, Data-Driven Approximate Abstraction for Black-Box Piecewise Affine Systems, American Control Conference (ACC), Milwaukee, WI.
• Jayanti Das, Gregory Bales, Zhaodan Kong, and Barbara Linke, Integrating Operator Information for Manual Grinding and Characterization of Process Performance based on Operator Profile, ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 140(8), 081011.
• Christian Nansen, Alison Stewart, April van Hise, Elvira de Lange, Hoang Danh Nguyen, and Zhaodan Kong, Precision Ornamental Production in the 21st Century, AFE(American Floral Endowment)’s Thrips & Botrytis Research Newsletter, June, 2018.
• Gang Chen, Zachary Sabato, and Zhaodan Kong, Formal Interpretation of Cyber-Physical System Performance with Temporal Logic, Cyber-Physical Systems, 4(3), 175-203.
• Gregory Bales and Zhaodan Kong, The Impact of Dynamic Complexity on Human-Multi-Agent Performance: A Neuro-Behavioral Perspective, 2nd IFAC Conference on Cyber-Physical & Human-Systems (CPHS’18), Miami, FL.
• Kayhan Ozcimder, Zhaodan Kong, Shuai Wang, and John Baillieul, Perceiving Artistic Expression: A Formal Exploration of Performance Art Salsa, IEEE Access, 6, 61867-61875.
• Gregory Bales and Zhaodan Kong, Cognitive Correlates of EEG Spectral Power Indicate Human-Swarm Task Performance, International Workshop on Human-in-the-loop Internet of Things Systems (Hit-IoT), Santa Barbara, CA.
• Gang Chen, Zachary Sabato, and Zhaodan Kong, Semantic Parsing of Automobile Steering Systems, International Workshop on Human-in-the-loop Internet of Things Systems (Hit-IoT), Santa Barbara, CA.
• Ajith Kaduwela, Roberto Hurtado, Longji Yin, Russell Evangelista, Daniel Andenmatten, Peng Wei, Amal Kaduwela, Anthony Wexler, and Zhaodan Kong, Measuring Air Pollution with a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (sUAV), Air Sensors International Conference, Oakland, CA.

2017

• Zhaodan Kong, Austin Jones and Calin Belta, Temporal Logics for Learning and Detection of Anomalous Behaviors, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 62(3), 1210-1222.
• Gregory Bales, Jayanti Das, Jason Tsugawa, Barbara Linke and Zhaodan Kong, Digitalization of Human Operations in the Age of Cyber-Manufacturing: Sensorimotor Analysis of Manual Grinding Performance, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 139(10), 101011.
• Gang Chen and Zhaodan Kong, Correct-by-Construction Approach for Self-Evolvable Robots, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, Cleveland, OH.
• Zhichao Wang, Zhaodan Kong and Hong Liu, Recurrent Convolutional Networks Based Intention Recognition for Human-Robot Collaboration Tasks, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), Banff, Canada, 2017.
• Gregory Bales and Zhaodan Kong, Neurophysiological and Behavioral Studies of Human-Swarm Interaction Tasks, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC), Banff, Canada.

2016

• Gregory Bales, Jayanti Das, Barbara Linke and Zhaodan Kong, Recognizing Gaze-Motor Behavioral Patterns in Manual Grinding Tasks, Procedia Manufacturing, 5, 106-121.
• Derya Aksaray, Austin Jones, Zhaodan Kong, Mac Schwager and Calin Belta, Q-Learning for Robust Satisfaction of Signal Temporal Logic Specifications, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Las Vegas, NV.
• Gang Chen, Zachary Sabato, and Zhaodan Kong, Active Learning Based Requirement Mining for Cyber-Physical Systems, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Las Vegas, NV.
  
• Zhaodan Kong, Nathan Fuller, Shuai Wang, Kayhan Ozcimder, Erin Gillam, Diane Theriault, Magrit Betke and John Baillieul, Perceptual Modalities Guiding Bat Flight in a Native Habitat, Scientific Reports, 6, 27252.
• Gregory Bales, Jayanti Das, Barbara Linke and Zhaodan Kong, Recognizing Gaze-Motor Behavioral Patterns in Manual Grinding Tasks, the 44th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference (NAMRC), Blacksburg, VA.

2015

• Berenice Mettler, Zhaodan Kong, Bin Li and Jonathan Andersh, Systems View on Spatial Planning and Perception Based on Invariants in Agent-Environment Dynamics, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 8, 439.
• Iman Haghighi, Austin Jones, Zhaodan Kong, Ezio Bartocci, Radu Grosu and Calin Belta, SpaTeL: A Novel Spatial-Temporal Logic and Its Applications to Networked Systems, International Conference on Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC), Seattle, WA.
  
• Austin Jones, Derya Aksaray, Zhaodan Kong, Mac Schwager and Calin Belta, Enforcing Temporal Logic Specifications via Reinforcement Learning, International Conference on Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC), Seattle, WA.
• Nathan Fuller, Diane Theriault, Zhaodan Kong, Shuai Wang, Magrit Betke and John Baillieul, Understanding Bat Flight as a Model for Bio-inspired Aircraft Designs, The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting, West Palm Beach, FL.

2014

• Berenice Mettler, Zhaodan Kong, Chad Goerzen and Matthew Whalley, Guidance Performance Benchmarking for Autonomous Rotorcraft, Journal of the American Helicopter Society, 59 (4), 1-16. 
• Austin Jones, Zhaodan Kong and Calin Belta, Anomaly Detection in Cyber-Physical Systems: A Formal Methods Approach, The 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Los Angeles, CA.
• John Baillieul and Zhaodan Kong, Saliency Based Control in Random Feature Networks, The 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Los Angeles, CA.
• Kayhan Ozcimder, Zhaodan Kong and John Baillieul, Algorithmic Approaches to Artistic Movement, The 53rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Los Angeles, CA. 
• Zhaodan Kong, Kayhan Ozcimder, Nathan W. Fuller, Diane Theriault, Magrit Betke and John Baillieul, Perception and Steering Control in Paired Bat Flight, The 19th World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), Cape Town, South Africa. 
• Zhaodan Kong, Austin Jones, Ana Medina Ayala, Ebru Aydin Gol and Calin Belta, Temporal Logic Inference for Classification and Prediction from Data, International Conference on Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC), Berlin, Germany.
  
• Zhaodan Kong, Austin Jones and Calin Belta, Formal Methods for Learning and Detection of Anomalous Behavior, New England Machine Learning Day, Cambridge, MA.

2013

• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, Modeling Human Guidance Behavior Based on Patterns in Agent-Environment Interactions, IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 43 (4), 371-384.
• Berenice Mettler and Zhaodan Kong, Mapping and Analysis of Human Guidance Performance from Trajectory Ensembles, IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, 43 (1), 32-45.
• Berenice Mettler, Navid Dadkhah, Zhaodan Kong and Jonathan Andersh, Research Infrastructure for Interactive Human- and Autonomous Guidance, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 70 (1-4), 437-459.
• Zhaodan Kong, Kayhan Ozcimder, Nathan Fuller, Alison Greco, Diane Theriault, Zheng Wu, Thomas Kunz, Magrit Betke and John Baillieul, Optical Flow Sensing and the Inverse Perception Problem for Flying Bats, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Florence, Italy.
• John Baillieul and Zhaodan Kong, The Standard Parts Problem and Quantization in Optimal Control Problems, SIAM Conference on Control and Its Applications, San Diego, CA.

2012

• Berenice Mettler, Navid Dadkhah, Zhaodan Kong and Jonathan Andersh, Infrastructure and Research Framework for Interactive Human and Autonomous Guidance, International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), Philadelphia, PA.
• Berenice Mettler and Zhaodan Kong, Hierarchical Model of Human Guidance Performance Based on Interaction Patterns in Behavior, 2nd International Conference on Application and Theory of Automation in Command and Control Systems (ICARUS), London, UK.

2011

• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, Evaluation of Guidance Performance in Urban Terrains for Different UAV Types and Performance Criteria Using Spatial CTG Maps, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 61, (1), 135-156.
• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, Foundations of Formal Language for Humans and Artificial Systems Based on Intrinsic Structure in Spatial Behavior, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), San Francisco, CA.
• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, An Investigation of Spatial Behavior in Agile Guidance Tasks, IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Anchorage, AK.

2010

• Berenice Mettler, Navid Dadkhah and Zhaodan Kong, Agile Autonomous Guidance Using Spatial Value Functions, Journal of Control Engineering Practice, 18 (7), 773-788.
• Chad Goerzen, Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, A Survey of Motion Planning and Trajectory Optimization Algorithms from the Perspective of Autonomous UAV Guidance, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 57 (1), 65-100.
• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, Evaluation of Guidance Performance in Urban Terrains for Different UAV Classes and Performance Criteria, International Conference on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (ICUAS), Dubai, UAE.
• Berenice Mettler, Zhaodan Kong, Chad Goerzen and Matthew Whalley, Benchmarking of Obstacle Field Navigation Algorithms for Autonomous Helicopters, American Helicopter Society (AHS) 66th Annual Forum, Phoenix, AZ.

2009

• Navid Dadkhah, Venkateshwar R. Korukanti, Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, Experimental Demonstration of an Online Trajectory Optimization with Spatial Value Functions for Autonomous Guidance of Agile Vehicles, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Shanghai, China.
• Zhaodan Kong and Berenice Mettler, On the General Characteristics of 2D Optimal Obstacle-Field Guidance Solution, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Shanghai, China.
• Zhaodan Kong, Venkateshwar R. Korukanti and Berenice Mettler, Mapping 3D Guidance Performance Using Approximate Optimal Cost-to-go Function, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference (GNC), Chicago, IL.

2008

• Berenice Mettler and Zhaodan Kong, An Extremal Fields Approach for the Analysis of Human Planning and Control Performance, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Pasadena, CA.
• Berenice Mettler and Zhaodan Kong, Receding Horizon Trajectory Optimization with a Finite-State Value Function Approximation, American Control Conference (ACC), Seattle, WA.
• Berenice Mettler and Zhaodan Kong, A Control-Theoretic Investigation of Dynamic Spatial Behavior, Advances in Computational Motor Control Symposium, Society for Neuroscience Conference, Washington, DC.

2007

• Zhaodan Kong, Wenbo Luo and Rui He, Research on Black-Box Identification Based on DBM Method, Journal of System Simulation, 19 (11), 2429-2433.