A General Stability Test for Switched Positive Systems Based on a Multidimensional System Analysis

The main goal of this technical note is to present a new sufficient condition for the stability of switched positive linear systems. This condition is general in two senses. First of all, because it applies to switching systems of order n composed of k subsystems, for any n and k. Secondly, because it applies to both discrete-and continuous-time systems. Furthermore, it is easy to verify, as it amounts to check for the stability of a certain matrix. The new condition is derived from a multidimensional system analysis, where the relation between the stability of multidimensional and switched systems is investigated. A comparison with other existing tests is also presented, showing that the one proposed here allows to infer about the stability of a system in cases where other tests fail or do not apply at all.