Sliding mode control of switching systems with boolean inputs

Abstract Hybrid physical systems involving commutations between several continuous modes are widespread in several engineering fields (e.g. power electronics). Although the topology of their continuous part changes according to the current mode, previous contributions have shown that, under certain hypotheses, it is still possible to model the behaviour of such systems using a unique state space equation valid in any mode, with variable Boolean parameters whose values depend on the mode. In addition, there exist some applications where these Boolean can be thought of as control inputs. The present paper focuses on the design of control laws based on sliding mode principles for such systems. A generic design methodology is proposed in the multivariable case.