A hybrid automaton is a (possibly infinite) state machine augmented with differential equations. It is a standard model for describing a hybrid system.
Hybrid automata come in several flavors: The Alur-Henzinger hybrid automaton is a popular model; it was developed primarily for algorithmic analysis of hybrid systems model checking. The HyTech model checking tool is based on this model. The Hybrid Input/Output Automaton model has been developed more recently. This model enables compositional modeling and analysis of hybrid systems.
References
- Rajeev Alur, Costas Courcoubetis, Nicolas Halbwachs, Thomas A. Henzinger, P.-H. Ho, Xavier Nicollin, Alfredo Olivero, Joseph Sifakis, and Sergio Yovine The algorithmic analysis of hybrid systems. Theoretical Computer Science, volume 138(1), pages 3--34,1995.
- Nancy Lynch, Roberto Segala, Frits Vaandrager, Hybrid I/O Automata.Information and Computation, volume 185(1), pages 103-157, 2003.