Hybrid systems are networks of interacting digital and
analog devices. Control systems for inherently unstable
aircraft and computer aided manufacturing are typical
applications for hybrid systems, but due to the rapid
development of processor and circuit technology modern cars
and consumer electronics use software to control physical
processes. The identifying characteristic of hybrid systems
is that they incorporate both continuous components governed
by differential equations and also digital components -
digital computers, sensors, and actuators controlled by
programs.
This volume of invited refereed papers is inspired by a
workshop on the Theory of Hybrid Systems, held at the
Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark, in October 1992, and
by a prior Hybrid Systems Workshop, held at Cornell
University, USA, in June 1991, organized by R.L. Grossman
and A. Nerode. Some papers are the final versions of papers
presented at these workshops and some are invited papers
from other researchers who were not able to attend these
workshops.