This paper is mainly concerned with the synchronization problem of reaction-diffusion neural networks (RDNNs) with delays and its direct application in image secure communications. An adaptive control is designed without a sign function in which the controller gain matrix is a function of time. The synchronization criteria are established for an error model derived from master-slave models through solving the set of linear matrix inequalities derived by constructing the suitable novel Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional candidate, Green's formula, and Wirtinger's inequality. If the proposed sufficient conditions are satisfied, then the global asymptotic synchronization of the error model is guaranteed. The numerical illustrations are provided to demonstrate the validity of the derived synchronization criteria. In addition, the role of system parameters is picturized through the chaotic nature of RDNNs and those unprecedented solutions is utilized to promote better security of image transactions. As is evident, the enhancement of image encryption algorithm is designed with two levels, namely, image watermarking and diffusion process. The contributions of this paper are discussed as concluding remarks.

This paper aims to address the stabilization problem of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) based wind energy conversion system (WECS) through a novel adaptive fractional fuzzy integral sliding mode control (FFISMC) scheme in contrast to the traditional integer order control schemes. The main objective of modeling the fractional order control for nonlinear PMSM is to enhance the convergence rate which is effectively better when compared to integer order control schemes. In addition, the paper intensively investigates the performance of fractional order controllers in both PMSM and surface-mounted PMSM-based WECS through analyzing the global stability of closed-loop system based on Lyapunov stability theory. In this regard, firstly, the nonlinear PMSM model is transformed into equivalent linear sub-models through an effective Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy membership rules. Then, a novel automated (adaptive) controller is designed along with fractional sliding surface which involves an integral term to control the considered PMSM. In general, adaptive controllers are much more effective than manual controllers. Further, the sufficient conditions are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) via constructing the novel fractional fuzzy Lyapunov functional with quadratic terms, which guarantees the global stabilization of PMSM-based WECS. Overall performance and effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results are demonstrated through numerical simulations.

In order to meet the increasing demand of wind energy utilization, wind turbines (WTs) are developing toward the trend of large size and large capacity. In such a trend, various advanced yaw control strategies have been proposed to improve large WTs' comprehensive performance, but the analysis and summary of these strategies are still lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to have a review of yaw control, which not only enables readers to understand the current status of yaw control research but also promotes the development of wind energy technology. This paper presents a review of the current situation of yaw control for WTs, focusing on the mechanical/aerodynamic parts. The mechanical part is concerned with the WT yaw system and its effect on the fatigue load of the WT, and the aerodynamic part involves the wind energy capture and wake redirection to reduce the impact on adjacent WTs. In this review, the existing yaw control methods are classified in term of three control objectives: (1) increasing the wind energy capture of a single WT, (2) reducing the fatigue load of a single WT, and (3) maximizing the total power production of the whole wind farm and optimizing the wind farm fatigue load. On this basis, the control mechanism, the control algorithm, and the results are presented and analyzed in detail. Meanwhile, the advantages and disadvantages of the existing achievements are discussed. In addition, in a conclusion of the review, the future research direction has been identified.