Lyapunov-based stability analysis automated by genetic programming

This contribution describes an automatic technique to detect suitable Lyapunov functions for nonlinear systems. The theoretical basis for the work is Lyapunov’s Direct Method, which provides sufficient conditions for stability of equilibrium points. In our proposed approach, genetic programming (GP) is used to search for suitable Lyapunov functions, that is, those that best predict the true domain of attraction. In the work presented here, our GP approach has been extended by defining a target function accounting for the Lyapunov function level sets.