Synchronization of Nonlinear Continuous-time Systems by Sampled-data Output Feedback Control

The paper is concerned with the synchronization problem of a general class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear continuous-time systems under sampled-data output feedback control. The main contributions of the present paper are twofold: (i) we provide a unified synthesis method and synchronization criteria for MIMO Lipschitz nonlinear continuous-time systems; (ii) we present a systematic computable framework based on the sum of squares (SOS) and linear matrix inequality (LMI) software tools for polynomial nonlinear systems. From the viewpoint of observer theory, we design an observer driven by sampled-data output for Lipschitz nonlinear continuous-time systems, when the output of the plant can be measured only at sampling instants. Furthermore, the presented method can ensure exponential convergence of the observer error, rather than practical convergence. Finally, an illustrative example is also given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.