Stability analysis of switched systems with stable and unstable subsystems: an average dwell time approach

We study the stability properties of linear switched systems consisting of both Hurwitz stable and unstable subsystems using an average dwell time approach. We show that if the average dwell time is chosen sufficiently large and the total activation time of unstable subsystems is relatively small compared with that of Hurwitz stable subsystems, then exponential stability of a desired degree is guaranteed. We also derive a piecewise Lyapunov function for the switched system subjected to the switching law and the average dwell time scheme under consideration, and we extend these results to the case for which nonlinear norm-bounded perturbations exist in the subsystems. We show that when the norms of the perturbations are small, we can modify the switching law appropriately to guarantee that the solutions of the switched system converge to the origin exponentially with large average dwell time.