Online discrete event supervisory control of hybrid dynamical systems using embedded simulation

This paper describes a technique that automates the synthesis of supervisory controllers for plants that have a mixture of discrete and continuous dynamics, that is, plants with hybrid dynamics. The control technique utilizes embedded simulations to predict the future system trajectories of a system and then discrete control decisions are made in order to preserve the system's safety. This approach is rooted in the principles of discrete event supervisory control theory, in which the legal behaviour of the controlled system is specified abstractly by a regular language specification, as generated, for example, by a finite state machine.