Cluster synchronization of complex dynamic networks under pinning control via a limited capacity communication channel

In this paper, the cluster synchronization pinning control problem is investigated for the continuous-time-directed complex dynamic networks under the bit rate constraint. Firstly, a node selection scheme based on differences in node degrees is proposed to achieve cluster synchronization. Subsequently, a coding–decoding scheme is designed during data transmission through digital communication channels where only a limited number of encoded signal sequences are sent to the controller side. Further, regarding the unreliability of the channel, the phenomenon of packet dropouts is considered during the encoding process, which is modeled by using a series of independent Bernoulli distributed random variables. The pinning controller is then designed based on the received decoding information. By means of the convex optimization method, a sufficient condition is established to ensure that the cluster synchronization error is ultimately bounded and the desired controller gain is determined based on the solution to matrix inequalities. Finally, the effectiveness of the obtained results is validated through a simulation example.