Semiconductor Laser Dynamics

This is a collection of 18 papers, two of which are reviews and seven are invited feature papers, that together form the Photonics Special Issue “Semiconductor Laser Dynamics: Fundamentals and Applications”, published in 2020. This collection is edited by Daan Lenstra, an internationally recognized specialist in the field for 40 years

Synchronization of Complex-Valued Dynamical Networks

Dynamical networks (DNs) have been broadly applied to describe natural and human systems consisting of a large number of interactive individuals. Common examples include Internet, food webs, social networks, neural networks, etc. One of the crucial and significant collective behaviors of DNs is known as synchronization. In reality, synchronization phenomena may occur either inside a network or between two or more networks, which are called “inner synchronization” and “outer synchronization”, respectively. On the other hand, many real systems are more suitably characterized by complex-valued dynamical systems, such as quantum systems, complex Lorenz system, and complex-valued neural networks. The main focus of this thesis is on synchronization of complex-valued dynamical networks (CVDNs). In this thesis, we firstly design a delay-dependent pinning impulsive controller to study synchronization of time-delay CVDNs. By taking advantage of the Lyapunov function in the complex field, some delay-independent synchronization criteria of CVDNs are established, which generalizes some existing synchronization results. Then, by employing the Lyapunov functional in the complex field, several delay-dependent sufficient conditions on synchronization of CVDNs with various sizes of delays are constructed. Moreover, we study synchronization of CVDNs with time-varying delays under distributed impulsive controllers. By taking advantage of time-varying Lyapunov function/ functional in the complex domain, several synchronization criteria for CVDNs with time-varying delays are derived in terms of complex-valued linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Then, we propose a memory-based event-triggered impulsive control (ETIC) scheme with three levels of events in the complex field to investigate the synchronization problem of CVDNs with both discrete and distributed time delays, and we further consider an event-triggered pinning impulsive control (ETPIC) scheme combining the proposed ETIC and a pinning algorithm to study synchronization of time-delay CVDNs. Results show that the proposed ETIC scheme and ETPIC scheme can effectively synchronize CVDNs with the desired trajectory. Secondly, we study generalized outer synchronization of drive-response time-delayed CVDNs via hybrid control. A hybrid controller is proposed in the complex domain to construct response complex-valued networks. Some generalized outer synchronization criteria for drive-response CVDNs are established, which extend the existing generalized outer synchronization results to the complex field. Thirdly, we study the average-consensus problem of potential complex-valued multi-agent systems. A complex-variable hybrid consensus protocol is proposed, and time delays are taken into account in both the continuous-time protocol and the discrete-time protocol. Delay-dependent sufficient conditions are established to guarantee the proposed complex-variable hybrid consensus protocol can solve the average-consensus problem. Lastly, as a practical application for complex-valued networked systems, the synchronization problem of master-slave complex-valued neural networks (CVNNs) is studied via hybrid control and delayed ETPIC, respectively. We also investigate the state estimation problem of CVNNs by designing the adaptive impulsive observer in the complex field

Control of Networked Robotic Systems

With the infrastructure of ubiquitous networks around the world, the study of robotic systems over communication networks has attracted widespread attention. This area is denominated as networked robotic systems. By exploiting the fruitful technological developments in networking and computing, networked robotic systems are endowed with potential and capabilities for several applications. Robots within a network are capable of connecting with control stations, human operators, sensors, and other robots via digital communication over possibly noisy channels/media. The issues of time delays in communication and data losses have emerged as a pivotal issue that have stymied practical deployment. The aim of this dissertation is to develop control algorithms and architectures for networked robotic systems that guarantee stability with improved overall performance in the presence of time delays in communication. The first topic addressed in this dissertation is controlled synchronization that is utilized for networked robotic systems to achieve collective behaviors. Exploiting passivity property of individual robotic systems, the proposed control schemes and interconnections are shown to ensure stability and convergence of synchronizing errors. The robustness of the control algorithms to constant and time-varying communication delays is also studied. In addition to time delays, the number of communication links, which prevents scalability of networked robotic systems, is another challenging issue. Thus, a synchronizing control with practically feasible constraints of network topology is developed. The problem of networked robotic systems interacting with human operators is then studied subsequently. This research investigates a teleoperation system with heterogeneous robots under asymmetric and unknown communication delays. Sub-task controllers are proposed for redundant slave robot to autonomously achieve additional tasks, such as singularity avoidance, joint angle limits, and collision avoidance. The developed control algorithms can enhance the efficiency of teleoperation systems, thereby ameliorating the performance degradation due to cognitive limitations of human operator and incomplete information about the environment. Compared to traditional robotic systems, control of robotic manipulators over networks has significant advantages; for example, increased flexibility and ease of maintenance. With the utilization of scattering variables, this research demonstrates that transmitting scattering variables over delayed communications can stabilize an otherwise unstable system. An architecture utilizing delayed position feedback in conjunction with scattering variables is developed for the case of time-varying communication delays. The proposed control architecture improves tracking performance and stabilizes robotic manipulators with input-output communication delays. The aforementioned control algorithms and architectures for networked robotic systems are validated via numerical examples and experiments

Finite-time adaptive synchronization of fractional-order delayed quaternion-valued fuzzy neural networks

Based on direct quaternion method, this paper explores the finite-time adaptive synchronization (FAS) of fractional-order delayed quaternion-valued fuzzy neural networks (FODQVFNNs). Firstly, a useful fractional differential inequality is created, which offers an effective way to investigate FAS. Then two novel quaternion-valued adaptive control strategies are designed. By means of our newly proposed inequality, the basic knowledge about fractional calculus, reduction to absurdity as well as several inequality techniques of quaternion and fuzzy logic, several sufficient FAS criteria are derived for FODQVFNNs. Moreover, the settling time of FAS is estimated, which is in connection with the order and initial values of considered systems as well as the controller parameters. Ultimately, the validity of obtained FAS criteria is corroborated by numerical simulations

Simulation of networks of spiking neurons: A review of tools and strategies

We review different aspects of the simulation of spiking neural networks. We start by reviewing the different types of simulation strategies and algorithms that are currently implemented. We next review the precision of those simulation strategies, in particular in cases where plasticity depends on the exact timing of the spikes. We overview different simulators and simulation environments presently available (restricted to those freely available, open source and documented). For each simulation tool, its advantages and pitfalls are reviewed, with an aim to allow the reader to identify which simulator is appropriate for a given task. Finally, we provide a series of benchmark simulations of different types of networks of spiking neurons, including Hodgkin-Huxley type, integrate-and-fire models, interacting with current-based or conductance-based synapses, using clock-driven or event-driven integration strategies. The same set of models are implemented on the different simulators, and the codes are made available. The ultimate goal of this review is to provide a resource to facilitate identifying the appropriate integration strategy and simulation tool to use for a given modeling problem related to spiking neural networks.Comment: 49 pages, 24 figures, 1 table; review article, Journal of Computational Neuroscience, in press (2007

Neural synchrony in cortical networks : history, concept and current status

Following the discovery of context-dependent synchronization of oscillatory neuronal responses in the visual system, the role of neural synchrony in cortical networks has been expanded to provide a general mechanism for the coordination of distributed neural activity patterns. In the current paper, we present an update of the status of this hypothesis through summarizing recent results from our laboratory that suggest important new insights regarding the mechanisms, function and relevance of this phenomenon. In the first part, we present recent results derived from animal experiments and mathematical simulations that provide novel explanations and mechanisms for zero and nero-zero phase lag synchronization. In the second part, we shall discuss the role of neural synchrony for expectancy during perceptual organization and its role in conscious experience. This will be followed by evidence that indicates that in addition to supporting conscious cognition, neural synchrony is abnormal in major brain disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. We conclude this paper with suggestions for further research as well as with critical issues that need to be addressed in future studies