Regions of stability for limit cycles of piecewise linear systems

This paper starts by presenting local stability conditions for limit cycles of piecewise linear systems (PLS), based on analyzing the linear part of Poincare maps. Local stability guarantees the existence of an asymptotically stable neighborhood around the limit cycle. However, tools to characterize such neighborhood do not exist. This work gives conditions in the form of LMIs that guarantee asymptotic stability of PLS in a reasonably large region around a limit cycle, based on recent results on impact maps and surface Lyapunov functions (SuLF). These are exemplified with a biological application: a 4/sup th/-order neural oscillator, also used in many robotics applications like, for example, juggling and locomotion.