  This article introduces the notion of Generalized Poisson-Kac (GPK) processes
which generalize the class of "telegrapher's noise dynamics" introduced by Marc
Kac in 1974, usingPoissonian stochastic perturbations. In GPK processes the
stochastic perturbation acts as a switching amongst a set of stochastic
velocity vectors controlled by a Markov-chain dynamics. GPK processes possess
trajectory regularity (almost everywhere) and asymptotic Kac limit, namely the
convergence towards Brownian motion (and to stochastic dynamics driven by
Wiener perturbations), which characterizes also the long-term/long-distance
properties of these processes. In this article we introduce the structural
properties of GPK processes, leaving all the physical implications to part II
and part III.
