Graphic interpretations of structural controllability for switched linear systems

This paper considers the controllability problem for switched linear systems. In particular, the structural controllability of switched linear systems is investigated. The structural controllability of switched linear systems is a generalization of the traditional controllability concept for dynamical systems, and purely based on the graphic topologies among state and input nodes. First, two kinds of graphic representations of switched linear systems are proposed. Second, several graph-theoretic characterizations of the structural controllability for switched linear systems are presented based on these two newly introduced graphs. Finally, the paper concludes with several illustrative examples and discussions of the results and future work.