Trade-offs between control and mode-observability properties for switching linear systems

This paper describes recent progress in the study of switching linear systems i.e. linear systems whose dynamics can switch among a family of possible configurations/modes. We focus the attention on closed-loop mode-observability, namely the problem of identifying the active (unknown) mode of the system from closed-loop data. The analysis focuses on two fundamental questions: i) How the control objectives influence mode-observability; ii) How the control design influences mode-observability.