A survey on global pinning synchronization of complex networks

In practice, it is almost impossible to directly add a controller on each node in a complex dynamical network due to the high control cost and the difficulty of practical implementation, especially for large-scale networks. In order to address this issue, a pinning control strategy is introduced as a feasible alternative. The objective of this paper is first to recall some recent advancements in global pinning synchronization of complex networks with general communication topologies. A systematic review is presented thoroughly from the following aspects, including modeling, network topologies, control methodologies, theoretical analysis methods, and pinned node selection and localization schemes (pinning strategies). Fully distributed adaptive laws are proposed subsequently for the coupling strength as well as pinning control gains, and sufficient conditions are obtained to synchronize and pin a general complex network to a preassigned trajectory. Moreover, some open problems and future works in the field are also discussed.