A Switching Approach to Designing Finite-Time Synchronization Controllers of Coupled Neural Networks.

This paper is concerned with the finite-time synchronization issue of nonlinear coupled neural networks by designing a new switching pinning controller. For the fixed network topology and control strength, the newly designed controller could optimize the synchronization time by regulating a parameter α (0 ≤ α < 1). The control law presented in this paper covers both continuous controllers and discontinuous ones, which were studied separately in the past. Some criteria are discussed in detail on how to shorten the synchronization time for the strongly connected networks. Finally, the results are generalized to any network topologies containing a directed spanning tree, and one numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.