Performance benefits of hybrid control design for linear and nonlinear systems

This paper provides an overview of recent developments on design of hybrid controllers for continuous-time control systems that can be described by linear or nonlinear differential state equations. Hybrid controllers provide a generalization of classical feedback controllers for linear and nonlinear systems. The benefit of hybrid controllers, that they can be used to achieve closed-loop performance objectives that cannot be achieved using classical linear or nonlinear controllers, is emphasized. This paper introduces hybrid controllers in the form of a switching control architecture and provides a summary of recently developed control approaches that utilize this control architecture. We provide a conceptual framework for these results, identify limitations of the results, and discuss the current status of hybrid control design approaches.