Switched behaviors with impulses - a unifying framework

We present a new framework to describe and study switched behaviors. We allow for jumps and impulses in the trajectories induced either implicitly by the dynamics after the switch or explicitly by “impacts”. With some examples from electrical circuit we motivate that the dynamical equations before and after the switch already uniquely define the “dynamics” at the switch, i.e. jumps and impulses. On the other hand, we also allow for external impacts resulting in jumps and impulses not induced by the internal dynamics. As a first theoretical result in this new framework we present a characterization for autonomy of a switched behavior.