On the estimation of asymptotic stability regions: state of the art and new proposals

This paper deals with the problem of the estimation of regions of asymptotic stability for continuous, autonomous, nonlinear systems. The first part of the work provides a comprehensive survey of the existing methods and of their applications in engineering fields. In the second part certain topological considerations are first developed and the "trajectory reversing method" is then presented together with a theorem on which it is based. In the final part, several examples of application are reported, showing the efficiency of the proposed technique for low-order (second and third) systems.