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Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174

www.elsevier.com/locate/chaos

Global exponential stability of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg

neural networks with continuously distributed delays
Zhao Wu Ping, Jun Guo Lu *
Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, PR China

Accepted 13 November 2007

Communicated by Prof. L. Marek-Crnjac

Abstract

In this paper, several classes of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with continuously distributed delays
are considered. Global exponential stability and robust global exponential stability of the equilibrium solution are
investigated by using Lyapunov function and integro-differential inequality. Moreover, sufficient conditions are also
given to guarantee the existence of --periodic solution and that all other solutions are convergent to it globally expo-
nentially. Finally, two examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our results in this paper.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Cohen–Grossberg neural networks (CGNNs) were firstly introduced by Cohen–Grossberg [1] in 1983, which can be
described as follows:
" #
X
n
x_ i ðtÞ ¼ ai ðxi ðtÞÞ bi ðxi ðtÞÞ  cij fj ðxj ðtÞÞ þ I i ; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . n;
j¼1

where n P 2 is the number of neurons in this networks, xi(t) is the state variable of the ith neuron, ai() > 0 represents an
amplification function, bi() is the appropriately behaved function, (cij)nn denotes the connection matrix in which cij
represents the connection strength from ith neuron to jth neuron, fj() is the non-linear input–output activation of
jth neuron, I = (I1, I2, . . . , In)T 2 Rn denotes input vector. Cohen–Grossberg neural networks have been used in many
fields such as pattern recognition, associative memory, signal processing and combinatorial optimization [2,3]. Such
applications heavily depend on the dynamic behaviors of Cohen–Grossberg neural networks. It is well known that
the stability and convergence are prerequisites to guarantee the performance of Cohen–Grossberg neural networks.
Therefore, it is of prime importance to analyze the dynamics of Cohen–Grossberg neural networks.

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 34 202004; fax: +86 21 34 202030.
E-mail address: jglu@sjtu.edu.cn (J.G. Lu).

0960-0779/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.chaos.2007.11.022
 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174 165

Due to the finite speeds of the switching of the amplifiers and transmission of signals in hardware implementation
[4], time delay should exist in electronic neural networks. On the other hand, it has also been shown that the process of
moving images requires the introduction of delay in signal transmitted through the networks [5]. However, Time delays
may lead to bifurcation, oscillation, divergence, or instability which may be harmful to a system. Thus, the study of
neural dynamics with consideration of delay problem becomes extremely important to manufacture high quality
Cohen–Grossberg neural networks. Recently, the stability of Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with discrete delays
has been studied, e.g. Refs. [6–23].
In addition, it is well known that in real world many evolutionary processes, particularly some biological systems such
as biological neural networks and bursting rhythm models in pathology are characterized by abrupt changes of states at
certain time. These changes are called to be impulsive phenomena, which are also included in many fields such as physics,
chemistry, population dynamics, optimal control, etc. However, impulsive effects may also lead to bifurcation, oscillation,
divergence, or instability which may be harmful to a system. Thus, the study of neural dynamics with consideration of
impulsive effects becomes extremely important to manufacture high quality Cohen–Grossberg neural networks. Recently,
the stability of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with discrete delay has been studied in [24,25].
Moreover, since a neural network usually has a spatial nature due to the presence of an amount of parallel pathways
of a variety of axon sizes and lengths, it is desired to model them by introducing continuously distributed delays over
certain duration of time such that the distant past has less influence compared to the recent behavior of the state [26].
Especially, we can use integro-differential equations to describe a system possessing hereditary properties. Recently, the
stability of Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with continuously distributed delay has been studied in [27–30].
To the best of our knowledge, few authors have considered the stability and periodicity of impulsive Cohen–Gross-
berg neural networks with continuously distributed delays, which is very important in theories and applications and
also is a very challenging problem. Motivated by the above discussion, in this paper, we will investigate stability and
periodicity of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with continuously distributed delays. Firstly, global expo-
nential stability and robust global exponential stability of the equilibrium solution are investigated by using Lyapunov
function and integro-differential inequality. Secondly, sufficient conditions are given to guarantee the existence of --
periodic solution and that all other solutions are convergent to it globally exponentially. Finally, two examples are
given to show the effectiveness of our results in this paper.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we give the description of an impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural
network with continuously distributed delays, and sufficient conditions to guarantee the existence, uniqueness and glo-
bal exponential stability of the equilibrium solution of this neural network. In Section 3, robust global exponential sta-
bility of the equilibrium solution of the uncertain impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously
distributed delays is investigated. In Section 4, sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the existence of --peri-
odic solution and that all other solutions are convergent to it globally exponentially. In Section 5, two examples are
given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed results in this paper.

2. Existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium solution and global exponential stability

Consider the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays as follows:
" Z t #
X
n X
n
Dxi ðtÞ ¼ ai ðxi ðtÞÞ bi ðxi ðtÞÞ  cij fj ðxj ðtÞÞuj  d ij k ij ðt  sÞfj ðxj ðsÞÞdsxj þ I i ; ð1Þ
j¼1 j¼1 1

where i = 1, 2, . . . , n, n P 2 is the number of neurons in this network; D denotes the distributional derivative;
x = (x1, x2, . . . , xn)T 2 Rn and xi(t) is the state variable of the ith neuron; ai() > 0 represents an amplification function;
bi() is the appropriately behaved function; (cij)nn and (dij)nn denote the connection matrix; fj() is the non-linear in-
T n
put–output activation of jth neuron; R 1 I = (I1, I2, . . . , In) 2 R denotes input vector; kernels kij:[0, +1) ? [0, +1) are
piecewise continuous and satisfy 0 k ij ðsÞ ds ¼ 1. uj and xj satisfy:
X1 X1
uj ¼ 1 þ bjk dðt  tk Þ; xj ¼ 1 þ cjk dðt  tk Þ; ð2Þ
k¼1 k¼1

where t1 < t2 <    < tk <    , limk?+1tk = +1, d(t) is the Dirac impulsive function, bjk and cjk are constants.
We assume that the following conditions are satisfied:

ai > 0 such that 0 < ai 6 ai ðxi ðtÞÞ 6 

(A1) ai(xi(t)) > 0 are bounded, i.e., there exist ai > 0,  ai , i = 1, 2, . . . , n, and let
a ¼ max16i6n ai , a = min16i6nai;
166 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174

(A2) bi ðxÞb
xy
i ðyÞ
P ci > 0 for all x, y 2 R, x – y, i = 1, 2, . . . , n;
(A3) there exist Lj such that
jfj ðxÞ  fj ðyÞj 6 Lj jx  yj; 8x; y 2 R;
where Lj > 0 are constants, j = 1,2, . . . , n.

To proceed, we will introduce the following definitions.

C[X, Y] denotes the space of continuous mappings from the topological space X to the topological space Y. Espe-
cially, let C , C[(1, 0],Rn]. P
For x 2 Rn, / 2 C[(1, 0],Rn], let kxk ¼ ni¼1 jxi j, k/ k = Sups2(1, 0]k/(s)k.
PC[I, Rn] , {u:I ? Rn|u(t+) = u(t) for t 2 I, u (t) exists for t 2 (t0, 1), u(t) = u(t) for all but points tk 2 (t0, 1)},
where I  R is an interval, u(t+) and u(t) denote the left limit and right limit of the function u(t), respectively. Espe-
cially, let PC = PC((1, 0), Rn).
In addition, we need the following lemma which can be obtained from [31].
Lemma 1. Let p < 0, q(t) P 0 where q(t) is piecewise continuous. If the following conditions are satisfied:
R1 R1
(1) 0 ek1 t qðtÞdt < 1; k1 > 0; and let p þ 0 qðsÞds < 0;
(2) u(t) is the solution of the following integro-differential equations with the initial condition u(s) 2 PC, 1 < s 6 t0,
Z 1
Dþ uðtÞ 6 puðtÞ þ qðsÞuðt  sÞds; t P t0 ;
0

(3) z > 0 and the constant k satisfies 0 < k 6 k1 and is determined by the following inequality
 Z 1 
kþpþ qðsÞeks ds z < 0;
0

then,
uðtÞ 6 z ekðtt0 Þ ; t P t0 ;
provided that the initial conditions satisfy uðsÞ 6 z ekðst0 Þ ; 1 < s 6 t0 .

Now, we present the global exponential stability criteria for the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (1) with
continuously distributed delays.

Theorem 1. Assume that (A1)–(A3) hold. The impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (1) with continuously distributed
delays has a unique equilibrium solution which is globally exponentially stable if the following conditions hold:

(i) The set {xi 2 R|fi(xi) = 0} \P{xi| bi(xi) = Ii} (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is not

P empty; R1 k t
(ii) Let kR1 ¼ amin16i6n fci  nj¼1 jcji jLi g > 0, k 2 ðsÞ ¼  amax16i6n f nj¼1 jd ji jk ji ðsÞLi g, 0
e 1 k 2 ðtÞdt < 1, k1 > 0,
1
k 1 þ 0 k 2 ðsÞds < 0; R1
(iii) The constant k satisfies 0 < k 6 k1 and is determined by the inequality k  k 1 þ 0 k 2 ðsÞeks ds < 0;
(iv) Let
nP o
n
1 max16i6n aj jd ji cik jLi k ji ðsÞ
j¼1 
pk ¼ n P o > 0; qk ðsÞ ¼ n Pn o ;
min16i6n 1  nj¼1 aj jcji bik jLi min16i6n 1  j¼1  aj jcji bik jLi
 R1 

a
a
pk þ 0 qk ðsÞeks ds 6 M k ; M k > 1 is a constant;
ln M k
(v) tk tk1
6 q < k; k ¼ 1; 2;   .

Proof. Firstly, we will prove the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium solution for the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg
neural network (1) with continuously delays. Supposing x* is the equilibrium solution of the neural network (1), then x*
satisfies:
X
n X
n Z 1
bi ðxi Þ  cij fj ðxj Þuj  d ij k ij ðsÞfj ðxj Þds  xj þ I i ¼ 0: ð3Þ
j¼1 j¼1 0
 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174 167
R1
From 0
k ij ðsÞds ¼ 1 and (3), we can obtain
Xn X
n
bi ðxi Þ  cij fj ðxj Þuj  d ij fj ðxj Þ  xj þ I i ¼ 0; ð4Þ
j¼1 j¼1

which is equivalent to
X
n X
n X
n X
n
bi ðxi Þ  cij fj ðxj Þ  d ij fj ðxj Þ þ I i ¼ 0; cij fj ðxj Þuj þ d ij fj ðxj Þxj ¼ 0: ð5Þ
j¼1 j¼1 j¼1 j¼1

Similar to [24], we can conclude that the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (1) with continuously delays has a
unique equilibrium solution when the condition (i) in Theorem 1 holds.
In the following, we will prove the unique equilibrium solution x ¼ ðx1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xn ÞT is globally exponentially stable.
In order to simplify our proofs we will shift the equilibrium solution x* of the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural
network (1) to the origin. The transformation y i ðtÞ ¼ xi ðtÞ  xi puts the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (1)
into the following form:
" Z 1 #
X
n X
n
  
Dy i ðtÞ ¼ ai ðxi ðtÞÞ bi ðxi ðtÞÞ  bi ðxi Þ  cij ðfj ðxj ðtÞÞ  fj ðxj ÞÞuj  d ij k ij ðsÞðfj ðxj ðt  sÞÞ  fj ðxj ÞÞds  xj
j¼1 j¼1 0
" Z #
X
n X
n 1
¼ ai ðy i ðtÞÞ bi ðy i ðtÞÞ  cij uj ðy j ðtÞÞuj  d ij k ij ðsÞuj ðy j ðt  sÞÞds  xj ; ð6Þ
j¼1 j¼1 0
where
ai ðy i ðtÞÞ ¼ ai ðy i ðtÞ þ xi Þ; bi ðy i ðtÞÞ ¼ bi ðy i ðtÞ þ xi Þ  bi ðxi Þ; uj ðy j ðtÞÞ ¼ fj ðy i ðtÞ þ xi Þ  fj ðxj Þ: ð7Þ
Construct the Lyapunov function as follows:
Xn Z y i ðtÞ
sgnðsÞ
V ðtÞ ¼ ds: ð8Þ
i¼1 0 ai ðsÞ

It is obvious to get the following inequality:

1 1
kyðtÞk 6 V ðtÞ 6 kyðtÞk: ð9Þ
a a
When t – tk, calculating the upper right Dini-derivative D+V(t) of V(t) along the solution of system (6) and estimating
its right hand side, we have
" Z 1 #
dV X n X n X1
¼ sgnðy i ðtÞÞ bi ðy i ðtÞÞ  cij uj ðy j ðtÞÞ  d ij k ij ðsÞuj ðy j ðt  sÞÞds
dt i¼1 j¼1 j¼1 0
" Z 1 #
X n X
n X n
6 ci jy i ðtÞj  jcji jLi jy i ðtÞj  jd ji j k ji ðsÞLi jy i ðt  sÞjds
i¼1 j¼1 j¼1 0
Z 1 Z 1
k1 1
6  kyðtÞk þ k 2 ðsÞkyðt  sÞkds 6 k 1 V ðtÞ þ k 2 ðsÞV ðt  sÞds: ð10Þ
a a 0 0
When t = tk, we have
" Z #
X
n X
n 1
y i ðtk Þ  y i ðt
k Þ ¼ ai ðy i ðtk ÞÞ cij uj ðy j ðtk ÞÞbjk þ d ij k ij ðsÞLj jy j ðtk  sÞjds  cjk : ð11Þ
j¼1 j¼1 0

Then,
" Z #
X
n X
n 1
jy i ðtk Þj 6 jy i ðt
k Þj þ 
ai jcij bjk jLj jy j ðtk Þj þ jd ij cjk j k ij ðsÞLj jy j ðtk  sÞjds ; ð12Þ
j¼1 j¼1 0

which implies that

! Z
X
n X
n X
n n X
X n 1
1 aj jcji bik jLi jy i ðtk Þj 6 jy i ðt
k Þj þ aj jd ji cik j
 k ji ðsÞLi jy i ðtk  sÞjds: ð13Þ
i¼1 j¼1 i¼1 i¼1 j¼1 0
168 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174

From the condition (iv) in Theorem 1 and (13), we have

Z 1
kyðtk Þk 6 pk kyðt
k Þk þ qk ðsÞkyðtk  sÞkds: ð14Þ
0

From (9) and (14), we get

 Z 1 
a
V ðtk Þ 6 pk V ðt
k Þ þ qk ðsÞV ðt k  sÞds : ð15Þ
a 0

Define kV t0 k ¼ sup1<t6t0 fV ðtÞg; k/k ¼ sup1<s6t0 fkyðsÞkg: The following results come from (10) and (15). For
t 2 (t0, t1], according to (10) and Lemma 1, we have
1
V ðtÞ 6 kV t0 kekðtt0 Þ 6 k/kekðtt0 Þ ; ð16Þ
a
which leads to
1
V ðt
1 Þ 6 kV t0 ke
kðt1 t0 Þ
6 k/kekðt1 t0 Þ ;
a
and
 Z 1   Z 1 
a 
a
V ðtþ
1Þ 6 p1 V ðt
1 Þ þ q1 ðsÞV ðt 1  sÞds 6 k/k p 1 ekðt1 t0 Þ
þ q1 ðsÞeks
ds  ekðt1 t0 Þ
: ð17Þ
a 0 a2 0

From (17) and the condition (iv) in Theorem 1, we have

M1
V ðtþ
1Þ 6 k/kekðt1 t0 Þ : ð18Þ
a
Similarly, for t 2 (t1, t2], by applying Lemma 1 again, we have
M1
V ðtÞ 6 k/kekðtt0 Þ ; ð19Þ
a
which leads to
M1
V ðt
2Þ 6 k/kekðt2 t0 Þ ;
a
and
 Z 1   Z 1 
a aM 1
V ðtþ
2Þ 6 p2 V ðt
2 Þ þ q2 ðsÞV ðt 2  sÞds 6 k/k p 2 ekðt2 t0 Þ
þ q2 ðsÞeks
ds  ekðt2 t0 Þ
: ð20Þ
a 0 a2 0

From (20) and the condition (iv) in Theorem 1, we have

M 1M 2
V ðtþ
2Þ 6 k/kekðt2 t0 Þ : ð21Þ
a
By repeating the same procedure, we can easily deduce the following general result
1
V ðtÞ 6 k/kM 1 M 2    M k ekðtt0 Þ ; t 2 ½tk ; tkþ1 Þ: ð22Þ
a
From the condition (v) in Theorem 1, we have M k 6 eqðtk tk1 Þ , which implies
M 1 M 2    M k 6 eqðt1 t0 Þ eqðt2 t1 Þ    eqðtk tk1 Þ 6 eqðtt0 Þ : ð23Þ

So, for x 2 [tk, tk+1)

1 1
V ðtÞ 6 k/kM 1 M 2    M k ekðtt0 Þ 6 k/keðkqÞðtt0 Þ : ð24Þ
a a
From (9) and (24), we get
1 1
kyðtÞk 6 V ðtÞ 6 k/keðkqÞðtt0 Þ : ð25Þ
a a
 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174 169

So,
a
kyðtÞk 6 k/keðkqÞðtt0 Þ ¼ M 0 k/keðkqÞðtt0 Þ ; ð26Þ
a
where M 0 ¼ ða=aÞ P 1; k  q > 0.
Therefore the equilibrium solution of the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (1) with continuously
distributed delays is globally exponentially stable. This completes the proof of Theorem 1. h

3. Robust global exponential stability of the equilibrium solution

In this section, we will establish the robust global exponential stability criteria for the uncertain impulsive Cohen–
Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays.
Consider the uncertain impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays as follows:
" Z t #
X
n X
n
Dxi ðtÞ ¼ ai ðxi ðtÞÞ bi ðxi ðtÞÞ  cij fj ðxj ðtÞÞuj  d ij k ij ðt  sÞfj ðxj ðsÞÞdsxj þ I i ; ð27Þ
j¼1 j¼1 1

where cij 6 cij 6 cij , d ij 6 d ij 6 dij , the other notations and conditions are the same as those in the impulsive Cohen–
Grossberg neural networks (1).
ð0Þ ð1Þ ð0Þ ð1Þ
Let cij ¼ 12 ðcij þ cij Þ; cij ¼ 12 ðcij  cij Þ; d ij ¼ 12 ðdij þ d ij Þ; d ij ¼ 12 ðdij  d ij Þ.
Theorem 2. Assume that (A1)–(A3) hold. The uncertain impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (27) with continuously
distributed delays has a unique equilibrium solution which is robust globally exponentially stable if the following conditions hold:

(i) The set {x 2 R|fi(x) = 0} \ {xi|bi(xi) =  Ii}(i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is not empty;

(ii) Let
n Xn  ð0Þ o nXn  o
ð1Þ ð0Þ ð1Þ
k 1 ¼ a min16i6n ci  j¼1
jcji j þ cji Li > 0; k 2 ðsÞ ¼  a max16i6n j¼1
jd ji j þ d ji k ji ðsÞLi ;
Z 1 Z 1
ek1 t k 2 ðtÞdt < 1; k1 > 0; k 1 þ k 2 ðsÞds < 0;
0 0
R1
(iii) The constant k satisfies 0 < k 6 k1 and is determined by the inequality k  k 1 þ 0 k 2 ðsÞeks ds < 0;
(iv) Let
nP  o
n ð0Þ ð1Þ
max aj jcik j jd ji j þ d ji Li k ji ðsÞ

1 j¼1
pk ¼ n Pn  o > 0; qk ðsÞ ¼ 16i6n n Pn  o;
ð0Þ ð1Þ ð0Þ ð1Þ
min16i6n 1  j¼1 aj jbik j jcji j þ cji Li min16i6n 1  j¼1  aj jbik j jcji j þ cji Li
R1

a
a
ðpk þ 0 qk ðsÞeks dsÞ 6 M k ; M k > 1 is a constant;
ln M k
(v) tk tk1
6 q < k; k ¼ 1; 2;    :

ð0Þ ð1Þ ð0Þ ð1Þ

Proof. Note jcij j 6 jcij j þ cij and jd ij j 6 jd ij j þ d ij , similar to the proof of Theorem 1, it is easy to prove Theorem
2. h

4. Periodic solution of the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays

In this section, we will discuss the periodic solution of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continu-
ously distributed delays.
Consider the following impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays:
8 R
< Dxi ðtÞ ¼ ai ðt; xi ðtÞÞ½bi ðt; xi ðtÞÞ  P cij ðtÞfj ðxj ðtÞÞ  P d ij ðtÞ t k ij ðt  sÞfj ðxj ðsÞÞds þ I i ðtÞ; t–tk ;
n n
1
j¼1 j¼1 ð28Þ
:
xi ðtk Þ ¼ ð1 þ bik Þxi ðt
k Þ; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . n;
170 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174

where

(i) ai 2 C(R2, (0, +1)) is --periodic with respect to the first argument and there exist constants ai and 
ai such that
ai 6 ai 6 ai ;
(ii) bi 2 C(R2, R) is --periodic with respect to the first argument;
(iii) cij, dij, Ii 2 C(R, R) are --periodic;
(iv) For - > 0, there exists q 2 N such that tk + - = tk+q and bi(k+q) = bik, k = 1,2,   .

Assume that the initial condition is xi(t) = /i(t), t 6 0. We have the following theorem.
Theorem 3. Assume that

(i) jai ðt; uÞ  ai ðt; vÞj 6 Lai ju  vj; 8u; v 2 R; t 2 ½0; þ-;
(ii) oðai ðt;uÞb
ou
i ðt;uÞÞ
P cab i ; t 2 ½0; -; u 2 R;
(iii) |fj(u)  P fj (v)| 6 Lj|u  v|, |fj(u)| 6 Mj, "u, v 2 R; Pn
(iv) cabi 
n
aj cji Li þ Lai ðcji þ dji ÞM i   Lai I M
j¼1 ½ i  aj Li dji > 0; 8t 2 ½0; þ1Þ;
j¼1 

where cij ¼ maxt2½0; - cij ðtÞ; dij ¼ maxt2½0; - d ij ðtÞ; I M

i ¼ maxt2½0; - I i ðtÞ;
(v) |1 + bik| 6 1, i, k = 1, 2,   .

Then there is a unique --periodic solution for the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (28) and all other solu-
tions are convergent to it globally exponentially.
Proof. Let zi(t) = xi(t + -)  xi(t), where xi(t + -) = wi (t), t 6 0.
When t – tk, calculating the upper right Dini-derivative D+zi(t) of zi(t) along the solution of system (28) and
estimating its right hand side, we have
" Z 1 #
X
n X
n
Dzi ðtÞ ¼  ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ bi ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ  cij ðtÞfj ðxj ðt þ -ÞÞ  d ij ðtÞ k ij ðsÞfj ðxj ðt þ -  sÞÞds þ I i ðtÞ
j¼1 j¼1 0
" Z #
X
n X
n 1
þ ai ðt; xi ðtÞÞ bi ðt; xi ðtÞÞ  cij ðtÞfj ðxj ðtÞÞ  d ij ðtÞ k ij ðsÞfj ðxj ðt  sÞÞds þ I i ðtÞ
j¼1 j¼1 0

X
n
 ½ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞbi ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðt; xi ðtÞÞbi ðt; xi ðtÞÞ þ ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ cij ðtÞ½fj ðxj ðt þ -ÞÞ
j¼1
X
n X
n Z 1
 fi ðxj ðtÞÞ þ ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞ cij ðtÞfj ðxj ðtÞÞ þ ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ d ij ðtÞ k ij ðsÞ½fj ðxj ðt þ -  sÞÞ
j¼1 j¼1 0

X
n Z 1
 fj ðxj ðt  sÞÞds þ ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞ d ij k ij ðsÞfj ðxj ðt  sÞÞds  ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞI i ðtÞ
j¼1 0

¼ ai ðzi ðtÞÞ þ bi ðzi ðtÞÞ þ ci ðzi ðtÞÞ þ P i ðzi ðtÞÞ þ Qi ðzi ðtÞÞ  Ri ðzi ðtÞÞ; t–tk ; ð29Þ
where
ai ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞbi ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðt; xi ðtÞÞbi ðt; xi ðtÞÞ;
X n
bi ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ ai ðt; xi ðt þ -ÞÞ cij ðtÞ½fj ðxj ðt þ -ÞÞ  fj ðxj ðtÞÞ;
j¼1
X
n
ci ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞ cij ðtÞfj ðxj ðtÞÞ;
j¼1
X
n Z 1
P i ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ d ij ðtÞ k ij ðsÞ½fj ðxj ðt þ -  sÞÞ  fj ðxj ðt  sÞÞds;
j¼1 0

X
n Z 1
Qi ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞ d ij k ij ðsÞfj ðxj ðt  sÞÞds;
j¼1 0

Ri ðzi ðtÞÞ ¼ ½ai ðxi ðt þ -ÞÞ  ai ðxi ðtÞÞI i ðtÞ:

 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174 171

When t = tk, we have

zi ðtk Þ ¼ ð1 þ bik Þzi ðt
k Þ: ð30Þ
By condition (iv) in Theorem 3, we know that there exists e > 0 such that
X n X
n Z 1
e  cab
i þ ½ajcji Li þ Lai ðcji þ dji ÞM i  þ Lai I M
i þ aj Li dji
 k ji ðsÞees ds 6 0: ð31Þ
j¼1 j¼1 0

Construct Lyapunov function as follows:

" Z 1 Z #
X
n X
n t
V ðtÞ ¼ eet jzi ðtÞj þ ai Lj k ij ðsÞ expfeðu þ sÞgjd ij ðu þ sÞkzj ðuÞjdu ds : ð32Þ
i¼1 j¼1 0 ts

Then, by using conditions (29) and (32), we have

(
dV ðtÞ X n
¼ eeet jzi ðtÞj þ eet sgnðzi ðtÞÞ½ai ðzi ðtÞÞ þ bi ðzi ðtÞÞ þ ci ðzi ðtÞÞ þ P i ðzi ðtÞÞ þ Qi ðzi ðtÞÞ  Ri ðzi ðtÞÞ
dt i¼1
Z 1 Z 1 )
Xn X n
þ ai Lj k ij ðsÞ expfeðt þ sÞgjd ij ðt þ sÞkzj ðtÞjds  a i Lj
 k ij ðsÞ expfeðtÞgjd ij ðtÞkzj ðt  sÞjds
i¼1 0 i¼1 0
(
X
n X
n X
n
6 eeet jzi ðtÞj  eet cab et
i jzi ðtÞj þ e  ai jcij ðtÞjLj jzj ðtÞj þ eet Lai jcij ðtÞjM j jzj ðtÞj
i¼1 j¼1 j¼1
X
n Z 1 X
n
þ eet ai jd ij ðtÞjLj k ij ðsÞjzj ðt  sÞjds þ eet Lai jd ij ðtÞjM j jzi ðtÞj þ eet Lai I M
i jzi ðtÞj
j¼1 0 j¼1
Z Z )
X
n 1 X
n 1
eðtþsÞ et
þ ai Lj k ij ðsÞe jd ij ðt þ sÞkzj ðtÞjds  
ai Lj k ij ðsÞe jd ij ðtÞkzj ðt  sÞjds
j¼1 0 j¼1 0
( Z )
X
n X
n X
n 1
6 e et
e cab þ a  a M
½ajcji Li þ Li ðcji þ d ji ÞM i  þ Li I i þ  
aj Li d ji es
k ji ðsÞe ds jzi ðtÞj 6 0; t–tk :
i
i¼1 j¼1 j¼1 0

ð33Þ
On the other hand, by using condition (v) in Theorem 3,
V ðtk Þ 6 max j1 þ bik jV ðt 
k Þ 6 V ðtk Þ: ð34Þ
16i6n

Therefore,
V ðtÞ 6 V ð0Þ; t 2 ½tk ; tkþ1 Þ; k 2 N: ð35Þ
By the definition of V(t), we have
" Z Z #
Xn X
n 1 0
V ð0Þ 6 jzi ð0Þj þ ai Lj k ij ðsÞ expfeðu þ sÞgdij jzj ðuÞjdu ds
i¼1 j¼1 0 s
" Z Z #
X
n X
n 1 0
6 jzi ð0Þj þ aj Li d ji k ji ðsÞees jzi ðuÞjdu ds
i¼1 j¼1 0 s

X
n Z 1
6 k/  wk þ aj Li d ji k ji ðsÞees dsk/  wk 6 Kk/  wk: ð36Þ
j¼1 0
P
Note that V ðtÞ P ni¼1 eet jzi ðtÞj, thus
Xn
jzi ðtÞj 6 K eet k/  wk; 8t P 0: ð37Þ
i¼1

Therefore
jxi ðt þ -Þ  xi ðtÞj 6 K eet k/  wk: ð38Þ
P
In view of xi ðt þ k-Þ ¼ xi ðtÞ þ kl¼1 ½xi ðt þ l-Þ  xi ðt þ ðl  1Þ-Þ, the following limit exists.
172 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174

Define
xi ðtÞ ¼ lim xi ðt þ k-Þ;
k!1
 T ð39Þ
Y  ðtÞ ¼ x1 ðtÞ; x2 ðtÞ; . . . ; xn ðtÞ :
Thus Y*(t) is a periodic function with periodic - for system (28). Moreover, assuming system (28) has two periodic
solutions ZðtÞ; ZðtÞ, and by a similar method used before, we can get the following result:
jxi ðt þ k-Þ  xi ðt þ k-Þj 6 K eek- ; ð40Þ
which means that the limit solution is unique for system (28), and all other solutions are convergent to it globally
exponentially. h

5. Example

In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented results, we give the following two examples.
Example 1. Consider the following impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed delays:
    "  1
!
1  
x_ 1 ðtÞ 0:2 þ 0:01 sin x1 0 3x1 ðtÞ 4 4
sinðx1 ðtÞÞu1
¼   1 1
x_ 2 ðtÞ 0 0:2 þ 0:01 cos x2 3x2 ðtÞ 4 4
cosðx2 ðtÞÞu2
Z t !    # ð41Þ
 14 kðt  sÞ 18 kðt  sÞ sinðx1 ðsÞÞw1 0
 ds þ
1  161 kðt  sÞ 121 kðt  sÞ cosðx2 ðsÞÞw2 1:5p
P1
where k(t) = exp(t) is the kernel function, u1 ¼ u2 ¼ w1 ¼ w2 ¼ 1 þ k¼1 1:5dðt  tk Þ, tk  tk1 = 1.4. By simple calcu-
lation, from (41), we have a ¼ 0:21, a = 0.19, L1 = L2 = 1, c1 = c2 = 3, and

(i) {x1 2 R|sin(x1) = 0} \ {x1|3x1 = 0} = {x1|x1 = 0} – /,

fx2 2 Rj cosðx2 Þ ¼ 0g \ fx2 j3x2 ¼ 1:5pg ¼ fx2 jx2 ¼ 0:5pg–/;
R1 R1
(ii) k 1 ¼ 0:4750 > 0; k 2 ðsÞ ¼ 0:0656es ; k 1 þ 0 k 2 ðsÞds ¼ 0:4094 < 0; k ¼ 0:3; 0
k 2 ðsÞeks ds < þ1;
R1 ks
(iii) k ¼ 0:3; k  k 1 þ 0 k 2 ðsÞ e ds ¼ 0:0813 < 0;
1 0:21  5=16  1:5es
(iv) pk ¼ ¼ 1:1869 > 0; qk ðsÞ ¼ ¼ 0:1669es ; M k ¼ 1:4963 > 1;
1  0:21  0:5  1:5 1  0:21  0:5  1:5
ln M k ln 1:4963
(v) k  ¼ 0:3  ¼ 0:0121 > 0.
tk  tk1 1:4
Therefore, according to Theorem 1, we conclude that the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (41) with con-
tinuously distributed delays is globally exponentially stable.

Example 2. Now, we consider the following impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network with continuously distributed
delays:
 
 
cos t 1 1
x_ 1 ðtÞ ¼  6  x 1 ðtÞ  sin t sinðx 1 ðtÞÞ þ cos t cosðx2 ðtÞÞ
1 þ x21 ðtÞ 10 12
 Z 1 Z 1 
1 1
 sin t 2e2s sinðx1 ðt  sÞÞds þ cos t 2e2s cosðx2 ðt  sÞÞds þ sin tg; t–tk ;
21 0 30 0
 
 
sin t 1 1
x_ 2 ðtÞ ¼  5 þ x 2 ðtÞ  cos t sinðx 1 ðtÞÞ þ sin t cosðx2 ðtÞÞ ð42Þ
2 þ x22 ðtÞ 12 18
 Z 1 Z 1 
1 1
 cos t 2e2s sinðx1 ðt  sÞÞds þ sin t 2e2s cosðx2 ðt  sÞÞds þ cos tg; t–tk ;
18 0 30 0
x1 ðtk Þ ¼ ð1 þ bik Þx1 ðt
k Þ;
x2 ðtk Þ ¼ ð1 þ bik Þx2 ðt
k Þ;

where
bik ¼ 1 þ ð1Þk for i ¼ 1; 2; k 2 N;
t1 ¼ p=2; t2 ¼ p; t2kþ1 ¼ t1 þ 2kp; t2k ¼ t2 þ 2ðk  1Þp; k 2 N:
 Z.W. Ping, J.G. Lu / Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 41 (2009) 164–174 173

By simple calculation, from (42), we have

(i) La1 ¼ 1; La2 ¼ p1ffiffi2 ;

(ii) cab ab
1 ¼ 5; c2 ¼ 4;
(iii) L1 = L2 = 1, M1 = M2 = 1;
(iv) a1 ¼ 7; a1 ¼ 5; a2 ¼ 6; a2 ¼ 4; I M i ¼ 1; i ¼ 1; 2; and
Xn X
n
cab  ½
aj 
c j1 L 1 þ La
ð
cj1 þ j1 ÞM 1   La I M 
d aj L1 dj1

1 1 1 1
j¼1 j¼1
       
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
¼ 5  7  0:1  1 þ 1  þ 1þ6 1þ1 þ 1 11 71 þ61
10 21 12 12 18 21 18
¼ 1:8468 > 0;

X
n X
n
cab
2  ½ajcj2 L2 þ La2 ðcj2 þ dj2 ÞM 2   La2 I M
2  aj L2 dj2

j¼1 j¼1
     
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
¼ 4  7   1 þ pffiffiffi  þ  1 þ 6   1 þ pffiffiffi  þ 1
12 2 30 30 18 2 30 30
 
1 1 1
 pffiffiffi  1  7  1  þ 6  1  ¼ 1:8133 > 0;
2 30 30
(v) |1 + bik| 6 1, i = 1,2, k 2 N.

Therefore, according to Theorem 3, we conclude that the impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural network (42) with
continuously distributed delays has a unique 2p-periodic solution which is globally exponentially stable.

6. Conclusions

In this paper, several classes of impulsive Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with continuously distributed delays
have been studied. Some sufficient conditions for global exponential stability and robust global exponential stability
of the equilibrium solution have been obtained by using Lyapunov function and integro-differential inequality. The suf-
ficient conditions that guarantee the existence of --periodic solution and that all other solutions are convergent to it
globally exponentially have also been obtained. Finally, two examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of
our results in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and sugges-
tions. The research is partially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of PR China under Grant
Nos.60404005 and 60744002.

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