Aperiodic intermittent event-triggered synchronization control for discrete-time complex dynamical networks

In this paper, the synchronization control of discrete-time complex dynamical networks (CDNs) is studied under the framework of intermittent networked communication. To reduce transmission frequency, a novel aperiodic intermittent event-triggered mechanism (ETM) with discontinuous characteristics is proposed. Under this mechanism, the controller only works within predetermined working intervals, and whether the control signal is updated depends on a preset triggering condition. In addition, an exponential term is designed in this mechanism to achieve integration and correlation between the intermittent mechanism and the ETM, which depends on the initial instants of the working intervals. Compared with the existing ETMs, this mechanism saves communication and computing resources effectively. To improve flexibility in the design of working/rest intervals, the concepts of average working time ratio (AWTR) and average working period (AWP) are introduced to describe intermittent aperiodic performance. A sufficient criterion for the synchronization of discrete-time CDNs is obtained, and the feasible domain of AWTR is calculated. Finally, a simulation example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.