Polyhedral Flows in Hybrid Automata

A hybrid automaton is a mathematical model for hybrid systems, which combines, in a single formalism, automaton transitions for capturing discrete updates with differential constraints for capturing continuous flows. Formal verification of hybrid automata relies on symbolic fixpoint computation procedures that manipulate sets of states. These procedures can be implemented using boolean combinations of linear constraints over system variables, equivalently, using polyhedra, for the subclass of linear hybrid automata. In a linear hybrid automaton, the flow at each control mode is given by a rate polytope that constrains the allowed values of the first derivatives. The key property of such a flow is that, given a state-set described by a polyhedron, the set of states that can be reached as time elapses, is also a polyhedron. We call such a flow a polyhedral flow. In this paper, we study if we can generalize the syntax of linear hybrid automata for describing flows without sacrificing the polyhedral property. In particular, we consider flows described by origin-dependent rate polytopes, in which the allowed rates depend, not only on the current control mode, but also on the specific state at which the mode was entered. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for a class of flows described by origin-dependent rate polytopes to be polyhedral. We also propose and study additional classes of flows: strongly polyhedral flows, in which the set of states that can be reached up to a given time starting from a polyhedron is guaranteed to be a polyhedron, and polyhedrally sliced flows, in which the set of states that can be reached at a given time starting from a polyhedron is guaranteed to be a polyhedron. Finally, we discuss an application of the above classes of flows to approximate exponential behaviours.