Assessing the combination of differential flatness and deterministic automata for controllable hybrid systems

Hybrid automata are a powerful model class to analyze and control technical systems with nonlinear continuous dynamics and discrete-event dynamics. However, due to their complexity, controllability is generally hard to achieve in hybrid automata, although it is a desirable property of engineered systems. In the present paper, we assess a novel model class of controllable deterministic hybrid automata, which we call Flat Hybrid Automata. This model class is based on the concept of differential flatness for the nonlinear continuous dynamics and on the property of determinism and controllability for the discrete event dynamics. We review the formal definition and we give the respective conditions and a proof for its controllability. An electrical network example illustrates the methodology and shows its potential regarding modelling, control and system design.