Compositional Systems Lab

The major focus of the Compositional Systems Lab involves systems where a major portion of control, operation, or sensing, involves computing. Examples are cyber-physical systems, autonomous systems, and many kinds of robotics.

Technology to perform this research includes code generation, model-integrated computing, machine learning and data science, and AI. Theoretical understandings in systems theory, graph theory and rewriting, and models of computation is imperative to ensuring systems are built and run correctly.

The lab is led by Jonathan Sprinkle, Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University.

All Projects
view.live: Realtime Intelligence for Smoother, Safer Roads featured image

view.live: Realtime Intelligence for Smoother, Safer Roads

view.live delivers realtime intelligence for smoother, safer roads, turning live roadway sensing into actionable information for operators and travelers. Your browser does not …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Leveraging Advanced Data to Deliver Multimodal Safety (LADDMS) featured image

Leveraging Advanced Data to Deliver Multimodal Safety (LADDMS)

Expand Nashville’s LIDAR safety network and provide support for data analysis. In Partnership with NDOT, TSU, UT Chattanooga This project is part of a strong partnership with …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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I-24 MOTION Operations

Develop travel time forecasting tools for arterial roadways based on crash detours and deploy them into the I-24 Smart Corridor. Source of Support: TDOT Total Budget: $600,000 …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Rapid Development and Implementation of AI Signal Control Technology in Tennessee

Application of artificial intelligence to signal control of intersections. Source of Support: MWTCF Total Budget: $371,250 Performance Period: 2025/01 – 09/2026 Primary Place of …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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CPS: Offline Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-Physical Systems featured image

CPS: Offline Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-Physical Systems

This Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) project will accelerate the design of controllers for large-scale engineering systems, focusing on the application of artificial intelligence in …

Featured Publications
Recent Publications
(2025). Can control barrier functions keep automated vehicles safe in live freeway traffic?. Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE 16th International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (with CPS-IoT Week 2025).
DOI
(2025). Combining LLMs with a Logic-Based Framework to Explain MCTS. Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.
Recent News
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Friendship Fuels Innovation

Check out this story on the partnership between Jonathan Sprinkle and Dan Work, complete with embarrassing photos and links to previous research that lays the groundwork for what …

CIRCLES Consortium Receives 2024 IEEE ITSC Institutional Lead Award featured image

CIRCLES Consortium Receives 2024 IEEE ITSC Institutional Lead Award

The CIRCLES Consortium was honored with the 2024 Institutional Lead Award at the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC). The project was recognized for …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Tech Talk: Solving Mobility Challenges — The TDOT I-24 MOTION Project featured image

Tech Talk: Solving Mobility Challenges — The TDOT I-24 MOTION Project

The Council on Competitiveness featured the I-24 MOTION project and the CIRCLES experiment as a model for strategic public-private partnerships driving innovation. The article …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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AI-Powered Cruise Control Can Stop 'Phantom Traffic Jams' Before They Start featured image

AI-Powered Cruise Control Can Stop 'Phantom Traffic Jams' Before They Start

Fox News featured the CIRCLES project’s AI-powered cruise control system, reporting on how the technology can predict when a traffic jam ahead will clear and adjust vehicle speed …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Real World Research: Reducing Human-Caused Traffic Jams featured image

Real World Research: Reducing Human-Caused Traffic Jams

Vanderbilt’s Government and Community Relations office highlighted the CIRCLES experiment, reporting that preliminary results showed a single AI-equipped vehicle could influence …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Road Scholars: Rutgers-Camden Partners on World's Largest Traffic Experiment

Rutgers-Camden Stories published a feature article on the CIRCLES Consortium’s partnership to conduct the world’s largest traffic experiment to test AI-equipped vehicles. The story …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Massive Traffic Experiment Pits Machine Learning Against 'Phantom' Jams featured image

Massive Traffic Experiment Pits Machine Learning Against 'Phantom' Jams

TechXplore covered the CIRCLES Consortium’s landmark experiment on I-24 in Nashville, where 100 AI-equipped vehicles were tested in real traffic to combat phantom jams using …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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Adaptive Cruise Control Technology Could Ease Phantom Traffic Jams

Nashville’s WKRN News 2 reported on the CIRCLES experiment findings, covering how adaptive cruise control technology developed at Vanderbilt could ease phantom traffic jams on …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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AI-Powered Cruise Control May Pave Way to Fuel Efficiency and Traffic Relief

Vanderbilt News announced results from the CIRCLES experiment showing that AI-powered cruise control systems may pave the way to fuel efficiency and traffic relief. The five-day …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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An AI That Lets Cars Communicate Might Reduce Traffic Jams featured image

An AI That Lets Cars Communicate Might Reduce Traffic Jams

Popular Science featured the CIRCLES project’s approach to using AI-equipped vehicles that communicate to reduce traffic congestion, highlighting the I-24 experiment in Nashville …

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Jonathan Sprinkle
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