This article reports the synchronization of coupled neural networks (CNNs) by devising an event-dependent intermittent pinning controller. In this article, the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF) is taken as an important element of the controller. Different from the preset technique in common intermittent control, the work/rest time is governed by an event-dependent intermittent mechanism which is described by the LKF and three partitions of non-negative real region. More specifically, the pinning controller is imposed on the CNNs only when the trajectory of LKF runs into the presupposed working regions. Under the proposed framework of intermittent control, a simple sufficient condition is formulated to guarantee the synchronization of CNNs. A numerical example is finally provided to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical results.

In this article, we investigate the periodic event-triggered synchronization of discrete-time complex dynamical networks (CDNs). First, a discrete-time version of periodic event-triggered mechanism (ETM) is proposed, under which the sensors sample the signals in a periodic manner. But whether the sampling signals are transmitted to controllers or not is determined by a predefined periodic ETM. Compared with the common ETMs in the field of discrete-time systems, the proposed method avoids monitoring the measurements point-to-point and enlarges the lower bound of the inter-event intervals. As a result, it is beneficial to save both the energy and communication resources. Second, the “discontinuous” Lyapunov functionals are constructed to deal with the sawtooth constraint of sampling signals. The functionals can be viewed as the discrete-time extension for those discontinuous ones in continuous-time fields. Third, sufficient conditions for the ultimately bounded synchronization are derived for the discrete-time CDNs with or without considering communication delays, respectively. A calculation method for simultaneously designing the triggering parameter and control gains is developed such that the estimation of error level is accurate as much as possible. Finally, the simulation examples are presented to show the effectiveness and improvements of the proposed method.

This article visits the intermittent quasisynchronization control of delayed discrete-time neural networks (DNNs). First, an event-dependent intermittent mechanism is originally designed, which is described by the Lyapunov function and three non-negative real regions. The distinctive feature is that the controller starts to work only when the trajectory of the Lyapunov function goes into the presupposed work region. The proposed method fundamentally changes the principle of the existing intermittent control schemes. Under the proposed framework of the intermittent mechanism, the work/rest time of the controller is aperiodic, unpredictable, and initial value dependent. Second, several succinct sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities are developed to achieve the quasisynchronization of the considered DNNs. A simple optimization algorithm is established to compute the control gains and the Lyapunov matrices such that synchronization error is stabilized to the smallest convergence region. Finally, two simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the designed intermittent mechanism.