A minimum-time control for Boolean control networks with impulsive disturbances

This paper investigates a Mayer-type optimal control and minimum-time control of a Boolean control network (BCN) with impulsive disturbances. Using the semi-tensor product, the BCN with impulsive disturbances is converted into algebraic discrete-time impulsive dynamic systems, and several necessary conditions for optimality are derived. Then we consider the problem of steering a BCN with impulsive disturbances from a given initial state to a desired state in minimal time. And a necessary condition, stated in the form of maximum principle, is obtained for a control to be time-optimal. It shows that the impulsive disturbances play an important role in the optimal control problem for BCNs. At last, a biological example is given to illustrate the effectiveness and advantage of the obtained results.