Three crossing limit cycles in planar piecewise linear systems with saddle-focus type

This paper presents an analysis on the appearance of limit cycles in planar Filippov system with two linear subsystems separated by a straight line. Under the restriction that the orbits with points in the sliding and escaping regions are not considered, we provide firstly a topologically equivalent canonical form of saddle-focus dynamic with five parameters by using some convenient transformations of variables and parameters. Then, based on a very available fourth-order series expansion of the return map near an invisible parabolic type tangency point, we show that three crossing limit cycles surrounding the sliding set can be bifurcated from generic codimensionthree singularities of planar discontinuous saddle-focus system. Our work improves and extends some existing results of other researchers.