Linearizing Discrete-Time Hybrid Systems

Model-based design approaches for embedded systems aim at generating correct-by-construction control software, guaranteeing that the closed-loop system (controller and plant) meets given system level formal specifications. This technical note addresses control synthesis for safety and reachability properties of possibly nonlinear discrete-time hybrid systems. By means of a syntactical transformations that requires nonlinear terms to be Lipschitz continuous functions, we overapproximate nonlinear dynamics with a linear system whose controllers are guaranteed to be controllers of the original system. We evaluate performance of our approach on meaningful control synthesis benchmarks, also comparing it to a state-of-the-art tool.