An improved stability criterion for systems with distributed delays

This article improves the formulation of discretized Lyapunov functional method for systems with distributed delays. The main idea is to apply Jensen's inequality and variable elimination in matrix inequalities. The resulting stability criterion is much simpler. Experience in numerical calculation indicates that it generally converges to the analytical result as grid size decreases, and the speed of convergence is much faster than the previous method. The new formulation is also applicable to a wider class of systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.