A Contract Theory for Layered Control Architectures

Abstract: Autonomous systems typically leverage layered control architectures with a combination of discrete and continuous models operating at different timescales. As a result, layered systems form a new class of hybrid systems composed of systems operating on a diverse set of continuous and discrete signals. This paper formalizes the notion of a layered (hierarchical) control architecture through a theory of relations between its layers. This theory enables us to formulate contracts within layered control systems -- these define interfaces between layers and isolate the design of each layer, guaranteeing that composition of contracts at each layer results in a contract capturing the desired system-wide specification. Thus, the proposed theory yields the ability to analyze layered control architectures via a compositional approach.