Reaching Synchronization in Networked Harmonic Oscillators With Outdated Position Data

This paper studies the synchronization problem for a network of coupled harmonic oscillators by proposing a distributed control algorithm based only on delayed position states, i.e., outdated position states stored in memory. The coupling strength of the network is conveniently designed according to the absolute values and the principal arguments of the nonzero eigenvalues of the network Laplacian matrix. By analyzing a finite number of stability switches of the network with respect to the variation in the time delay, some necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for reaching synchronization in networked harmonic oscillators with positive and negative coupling strengths, respectively, and it is shown that the time delay should be taken from a set of intervals bounded by some critical values. Simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis.