Robust-Output-Controlled Synchronization Strategy for Arrays of Pancreatic β -Cells

This paper presents a synchronization strategy based on second-order sliding mode control, to obtain robust controlled synchronization in an array of uncertain pancreatic β -cells. This strategy considers a synchronization scheme with a reference cell, which incorporates the desired dynamics, and an array of cells, which does not demonstrate adequate synchronization. The array may be formed by active and inactive cells having different strengths in gap junctions. For an array with three cells, we design the coupling signal considering that only the output of an active cell of the array is available. The coupling signal is the signum of the difference between the output of the reference cell and the output of an active cell in the array; this ensures exact synchronization in finite time between both cells. Then, this coupling signal is applied to the other cells in the array, and we establish the conditions required to be satisfied to obtain approximate synchronization between the reference cell and all other cells in the array. The performance of this technique is demonstrated by the results of numerical simulations performed for several cases of connections for an array with three cells and the reference cell. Finally, we show through a numerical simulation that this technique can be applied to arrays with many β -cells.