Absolute exponential stability criteria for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems

This paper is concerned with the problem of absolute exponential stability analysis for a class of continuous-time systems with sector-bounded nonlinearities and interval time-varying delays. Absolute exponential stability criteria, which depend not only on the delay range but also on the decay rate, are derived by using a novel Lyapunov functional. These criteria are expressed in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and they can easily be checked. By solving these LMIs, estimates of the exponential decay rate and decay coefficient are obtained. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.