On periodic solution to control problem with time-driven switching (Q2162685)

The authors consider the optimal control problem for a piecewise switched dynamical system, when the system undergoes an infinite number of time-driven switches. Firstly it is studied the qualitative behavior of the system with a single switch at predetermined time and finite horizon, even in this simpler case, monotonic and non-monotonic state dynamics are observed, depending on the size of parameters. It is then characterized the outcome with infinite horizon and a single switch. Secondly, the authors handle the case of infinite number of switches and demonstrate that there are only three possible categories of long-term optimal solutions, two of them corresponding to periodic oscillations of the optimal trajectory representing cyclic evolutions of the system state and control, reminding of limit cycles, whose stability is briefly discussed in the paper.