Neural networks with discrete and distributed time-varying delays: A general stability analysis

In this paper, the global asymptotic and exponential stability are investigated for a class of neural networks with both the discrete and distributed time-varying delays. By using appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, several delay-dependent sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the global asymptotic and exponential stability of the addressed neural networks. These conditions are expressed in terms of LMIs, and are dependent on both the discrete and distributed time delays. Therefore, the stability of the neural networks can be checked readily by resorting to the Matlab LMI toolbox. In addition, the proposed stability criteria do not require the monotonicity of the activation functions and the differentiability of the discrete and distributed time-varying delays, which means that our results generalize and further improve those in the earlier publications. A simulation example is given to show the effectiveness and less conservatism of the obtained conditions.