Cluster synchronization control for time-varying coupled neural networks with actuator faults and bit rate constraints

This article investigates the cluster synchronization control problem for a class of discrete-time coupled neural networks with time-varying coupling. These networks operate over bandwidth-limited digital communication channels and are subject to stochastic actuator faults. To characterize the digital transmission process, a coding-decoding mechanism under bit-rate limitations is incorporated into the network model. Based on this framework, a controller is then designed to ensure cluster synchronization performance under probabilistic actuator faults and bit-rate constraints. Furthermore, a sufficient condition is derived to guarantee the cluster synchronization error remains exponentially ultimately bounded in the mean-square sense. This framework explicitly clarifies the relationship between the allocated bit rates and the synchronization performance quantified by the asymptotic upper bound on the synchronization error. To enhance performance, a co-design strategy is subsequently proposed to jointly determine the optimized bit-rate allocation and the controller gains. Finally, a simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization control scheme.