Safety control of hidden mode hybrid systems

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the safety control problem for hidden mode hybrid systems (HMHSs), which are a special class of hybrid automata in which the mode is not available for control. For these systems, safety control is a problem with imperfect state information. We tackle this problem by introducing the notion of nondeterministic discrete information state and by translating the problem to one with perfect state information. The perfect state information control problem is obtained by constructing a new hybrid automaton, whose discrete state is an estimate of the HMHS mode and is, as such, available for control. This problem is solved by computing the capture set and the least restrictive control map for the new hybrid automaton. Sufficient conditions for the termination of the algorithm that computes the capture set are provided. Finally, we show that the solved perfect state information control problem is equivalent to the original problem with imperfect state information under suitable assumptions. We illustrate the application of the proposed technique to a collision avoidance problem between an autonomous vehicle and a human driven vehicle at a traffic intersection.