Pinning a complex dynamical network via impulsive control

Complex dynamical networks are being studied across many fields of science and engineering today. The issue of controlling a network to the desired state has attracted increasing attention. In this Letter, we investigate the problem of pinning a complex dynamical network to the solution of an uncoupled system. Our strategy is to apply impulsive control to a small fraction of network nodes. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, we prove that the theoretical results derived here are effective. In addition, a B-A scale-free network with 20 nodes is taken for illustration and verification.