Stability analysis of interconnected systems using computer generated Lyapunov functions

Abstract

In two recent papers, Brayton and Tong developed some significant results which are the basis of a constructive approach in the stability analysis of dynamical systems. Although their algorithm is powerful, it taxes the capabilities of most modern computers when the dimension of a system is high or even when the dimension is moderate in size. In this paper we remove these difficulties to a certain extent by generalizing the work of Brayton and Tong to interconnected dynamical systems. In our approach, the analysis of complex dynamical systems (which may be of high dimension) is accomplished in terms of the qualitative properties of the free subsystems and the interconnections of such systems.