The effect of coupling conditions on the stability of bimodal systems in R3

This paper investigates the global asymptotic stability of a class of bimodal piecewise linear systems in R3. The approach taken allows the vector field to be discontinuous on the switching plane. In this framework, verifiable necessary and sufficient conditions are proposed for global asymptotic stability of bimodal systems being considered. It is further shown that the way the subsystems are coupled on the switching plane plays a crucial role on global asymptotic stability. Along this line, it is demonstrated that a constant (which is called the coupling constant in the paper) can be changed without changing the eigenvalues of subsystems and this change can make bimodal system stable or unstable.