Copyright © 2009 Vadim Azhmyakov. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

We deal with an application of the fixed point theorem for nonexpansive mappings to a class of control systems. We study closed-loop and open-loop controllable dynamical systems governed by ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and establish convexity of the set of trajectories. Solutions to the above ODEs are considered as fixed points of the associated system-operator. If convexity of the set of trajectories is established, this can be used to estimate and approximate the reachable set of dynamical systems under consideration. The estimations/approximations of the above type are important in various engineering applications as, for example, the verification of safety properties.