Showing papers in "IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks in 2013"

Adaptive Optimal Control of Unknown Constrained-Input Systems Using Policy Iteration and Neural Networks

Abstract: This paper presents an online policy iteration (PI) algorithm to learn the continuous-time optimal control solution for unknown constrained-input systems. The proposed PI algorithm is implemented on an actor-critic structure where two neural networks (NNs) are tuned online and simultaneously to generate the optimal bounded control policy. The requirement of complete knowledge of the system dynamics is obviated by employing a novel NN identifier in conjunction with the actor and critic NNs. It is shown how the identifier weights estimation error affects the convergence of the critic NN. A novel learning rule is developed to guarantee that the identifier weights converge to small neighborhoods of their ideal values exponentially fast. To provide an easy-to-check persistence of excitation condition, the experience replay technique is used. That is, recorded past experiences are used simultaneously with current data for the adaptation of the identifier weights. Stability of the whole system consisting of the actor, critic, system state, and system identifier is guaranteed while all three networks undergo adaptation. Convergence to a near-optimal control law is also shown. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated with a simulation example.

Observer-Based Adaptive Neural Network Control for Nonlinear Stochastic Systems With Time Delay

Abstract: This paper considers the problem of observer-based adaptive neural network (NN) control for a class of single-input single-output strict-feedback nonlinear stochastic systems with unknown time delays. Dynamic surface control is used to avoid the so-called explosion of complexity in the backstepping design process. Radial basis function NNs are directly utilized to approximate the unknown and desired control input signals instead of the unknown nonlinear functions. The proposed adaptive NN output feedback controller can guarantee all the signals in the closed-loop system to be mean square semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Distributed Consensus Tracking for Multiple Uncertain Nonlinear Strict-Feedback Systems Under a Directed Graph

Abstract: In this brief, we study the distributed consensus tracking control problem for multiple strict-feedback systems with unknown nonlinearities under a directed graph topology. It is assumed that the leader's output is time-varying and has been accessed by only a small fraction of followers in a group. The distributed dynamic surface design approach is proposed to design local consensus controllers in order to guarantee the consensus tracking between the followers and the leader. The function approximation technique using neural networks is employed to compensate unknown nonlinear terms induced from the controller design procedure. From the Lyapunov stability theorem, it is shown that the consensus errors are cooperatively semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded and converge to an adjustable neighborhood of the origin.

Finite-Horizon Control-Constrained Nonlinear Optimal Control Using Single Network Adaptive Critics

Abstract: To synthesize fixed-final-time control-constrained optimal controllers for discrete-time nonlinear control-affine systems, a single neural network (NN)-based controller called the Finite-horizon Single Network Adaptive Critic is developed in this paper. Inputs to the NN are the current system states and the time-to-go, and the network outputs are the costates that are used to compute optimal feedback control. Control constraints are handled through a nonquadratic cost function. Convergence proofs of: 1) the reinforcement learning-based training method to the optimal solution; 2) the training error; and 3) the network weights are provided. The resulting controller is shown to solve the associated time-varying Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation and provide the fixed-final-time optimal solution. Performance of the new synthesis technique is demonstrated through different examples including an attitude control problem wherein a rigid spacecraft performs a finite-time attitude maneuver subject to control bounds. The new formulation has great potential for implementation since it consists of only one NN with single set of weights and it provides comprehensive feedback solutions online, though it is trained offline.

Impulsive Control for Existence, Uniqueness, and Global Stability of Periodic Solutions of Recurrent Neural Networks With Discrete and Continuously Distributed Delays

Abstract: In this paper, a class of recurrent neural networks with discrete and continuously distributed delays is considered. Sufficient conditions for the existence, uniqueness, and global exponential stability of a periodic solution are obtained by using contraction mapping theorem and stability theory on impulsive functional differential equations. The proposed method, which differs from the existing results in the literature, shows that network models may admit a periodic solution which is globally exponentially stable via proper impulsive control strategies even if it is originally unstable or divergent. Two numerical examples and their computer simulations are offered to show the effectiveness of our new results.

$H_{\infty}$ State Estimation for Complex Networks With Uncertain Inner Coupling and Incomplete Measurements

Abstract: In this paper, the H∞ state estimation problem is investigated for a class of complex networks with uncertain coupling strength and incomplete measurements. With the aid of the interval matrix approach, we make the first attempt to characterize the uncertainties entering into the inner coupling matrix. The incomplete measurements under consideration include sensor saturations, quantization, and missing measurements, all of which are assumed to occur randomly. By introducing a stochastic Kronecker delta function, these incomplete measurements are described in a unified way and a novel measurement model is proposed to account for these phenomena occurring with individual probability. With the measurement model, a set of H∞ state estimators is designed such that, for all admissible incomplete measurements as well as the uncertain coupling strength, the estimation error dynamics is exponentially mean-square stable and the H∞ performance requirement is satisfied. The characterization of the desired estimator gains is derived in terms of the solution to a convex optimization problem that can be easily solved using the semidefinite program method. Finally, a numerical simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed design approach.

Stability Analysis for Neural Networks With Time-Varying Delay Based on Quadratic Convex Combination

Abstract: In this paper, a novel method is developed for the stability problem of a class of neural networks with time-varying delay. New delay-dependent stability criteria in terms of linear matrix inequalities for recurrent neural networks with time-varying delay are derived by the newly proposed augmented simple Lyapunov-Krasovski functional. Different from previous results by using the first-order convex combination property, our derivation applies the idea of second-order convex combination and the property of quadratic convex function which is given in the form of a lemma without resorting to Jensen's inequality. A numerical example is provided to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the presented results.

Sampled-Data Exponential Synchronization of Complex Dynamical Networks With Time-Varying Coupling Delay

Abstract: This paper studies the problem of sampled-data exponential synchronization of complex dynamical networks (CDNs) with time-varying coupling delay and uncertain sampling. By combining the time-dependent Lyapunov functional approach and convex combination technique, a criterion is derived to ensure the exponential stability of the error dynamics, which fully utilizes the available information about the actual sampling pattern. Based on the derived condition, the design method of the desired sampled-data controllers is proposed to make the CDNs exponentially synchronized and obtain a lower-bound estimation of the largest sampling interval. Simulation examples demonstrate that the presented method can significantly reduce the conservatism of the existing results, and lead to wider applications.

A One-Layer Projection Neural Network for Nonsmooth Optimization Subject to Linear Equalities and Bound Constraints

Abstract: This paper presents a one-layer projection neural network for solving nonsmooth optimization problems with generalized convex objective functions and subject to linear equalities and bound constraints. The proposed neural network is designed based on two projection operators: linear equality constraints, and bound constraints. The objective function in the optimization problem can be any nonsmooth function which is not restricted to be convex but is required to be convex (pseudoconvex) on a set defined by the constraints. Compared with existing recurrent neural networks for nonsmooth optimization, the proposed model does not have any design parameter, which is more convenient for design and implementation. It is proved that the output variables of the proposed neural network are globally convergent to the optimal solutions provided that the objective function is at least pseudoconvex. Simulation results of numerical examples are discussed to demonstrate the effectiveness and characteristics of the proposed neural network.

Distributed Synchronization of Coupled Neural Networks via Randomly Occurring Control

Abstract: In this paper, we study the distributed synchronization and pinning distributed synchronization of stochastic coupled neural networks via randomly occurring control. Two Bernoulli stochastic variables are used to describe the occurrences of distributed adaptive control and updating law according to certain probabilities. Both distributed adaptive control and updating law for each vertex in a network depend on state information on each vertex's neighborhood. By constructing appropriate Lyapunov functions and employing stochastic analysis techniques, we prove that the distributed synchronization and the distributed pinning synchronization of stochastic complex networks can be achieved in mean square. Additionally, randomly occurring distributed control is compared with periodically intermittent control. It is revealed that, although randomly occurring control is an intermediate method among the three types of control in terms of control costs and convergence rates, it has fewer restrictions to implement and can be more easily applied in practice than periodically intermittent control.

Stability for Neural Networks With Time-Varying Delays via Some New Approaches

Abstract: This paper considers the problem of delay-dependent stability criteria for neural networks with time-varying delays. First, by constructing a newly augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, a less conservative stability criterion is established in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Second, by proposing novel activation function conditions which have not been proposed so far, further improved stability criteria are proposed. Finally, three numerical examples used in the literature are given to show the improvements over the existing criteria and the effectiveness of the proposed idea.

Exponential Synchronization of Coupled Switched Neural Networks With Mode-Dependent Impulsive Effects

Abstract: This paper investigates the synchronization problem of coupled switched neural networks (SNNs) with mode-dependent impulsive effects and time delays. The main feature of mode-dependent impulsive effects is that impulsive effects can exist not only at the instants coinciding with mode switching but also at the instants when there is no system switching. The impulses considered here include those that suppress synchronization or enhance synchronization. Based on switching analysis techniques and the comparison principle, the exponential synchronization criteria are derived for coupled delayed SNNs with mode-dependent impulsive effects. Finally, simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the results.

Sampled-Data Synchronization of Chaotic Lur'e Systems With Time Delays

Abstract: This paper studies the problem of sampled-data control for master-slave synchronization schemes that consist of identical chaotic Lur'e systems with time delays. It is assumed that the sampling periods are arbitrarily varying but bounded. In order to take full advantage of the available information about the actual sampling pattern, a novel Lyapunov functional is proposed, which is positive definite at sampling times but not necessarily positive definite inside the sampling intervals. Based on the Lyapunov functional, an exponential synchronization criterion is derived by analyzing the corresponding synchronization error systems. The desired sampled-data controller is designed by a linear matrix inequality approach. The effectiveness and reduced conservatism of the developed results are demonstrated by the numerical simulations of Chua's circuit and neural network.

Sparse Representation Classifier Steered Discriminative Projection With Applications to Face Recognition

Abstract: A sparse representation-based classifier (SRC) is developed and shows great potential for real-world face recognition. This paper presents a dimensionality reduction method that fits SRC well. SRC adopts a class reconstruction residual-based decision rule, we use it as a criterion to steer the design of a feature extraction method. The method is thus called the SRC steered discriminative projection (SRC-DP). SRC-DP maximizes the ratio of between-class reconstruction residual to within-class reconstruction residual in the projected space and thus enables SRC to achieve better performance. SRC-DP provides low-dimensional representation of human faces to make the SRC-based face recognition system more efficient. Experiments are done on the AR, the extended Yale B, and PIE face image databases, and results demonstrate the proposed method is more effective than other feature extraction methods based on the SRC.

Novel Cost-Sensitive Approach to Improve the Multilayer Perceptron Performance on Imbalanced Data

Abstract: Traditional learning algorithms applied to complex and highly imbalanced training sets may not give satisfactory results when distinguishing between examples of the classes. The tendency is to yield classification models that are biased towards the overrepresented (majority) class. This paper investigates this class imbalance problem in the context of multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks. The consequences of the equal cost (loss) assumption on imbalanced data are formally discussed from a statistical learning theory point of view. A new cost-sensitive algorithm (CSMLP) is presented to improve the discrimination ability of (two-class) MLPs. The CSMLP formulation is based on a joint objective function that uses a single cost parameter to distinguish the importance of class errors. The learning rule extends the Levenberg-Marquadt's rule, ensuring the computational efficiency of the algorithm. In addition, it is theoretically demonstrated that the incorporation of prior information via the cost parameter may lead to balanced decision boundaries in the feature space. Based on the statistical analysis of results on real data, our approach shows a significant improvement of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and G-mean measures of regular MLPs.

Adaptive Control for Nonlinear Pure-Feedback Systems With High-Order Sliding Mode Observer

Abstract: Most of the available control schemes for pure-feedback systems are derived based on the backstepping technique. On the contrary, this paper presents a novel adaptive control design for nonlinear pure-feedback systems without using backstepping. By introducing a set of alternative state variables and the corresponding transform, state-feedback control of the pure-feedback system can be viewed as output-feedback control of a canonical system. Consequently, backstepping is not necessary and the previously encountered explosion of complexity and circular issue are also circumvented. To estimate unknown states of the newly derived canonical system, a high-order sliding mode observer is adopted, for which finite-time observer error convergence is guaranteed. Two adaptive neural controllers are then proposed to achieve tracking control. In the first scheme, a robust term is introduced to account for the neural approximation error. In the second scheme, a novel neural network with only a scalar weight updated online is constructed to further reduce the computational costs. The closed-loop stability and the convergence of the tracking error to a small compact set around zero are all proved. Comparative simulation and practical experiments on a servo motor system are included to verify the reliability and effectiveness.

Boundedness and Complete Stability of Complex-Valued Neural Networks With Time Delay

Abstract: In this paper, the boundedness and complete stability of complex-valued neural networks (CVNNs) with time delay are studied. Some conditions to guarantee the boundedness of the CVNNs are derived using local inhibition. Moreover, under the boundedness conditions, a compact set that globally attracts all the trajectories of the network is also given. Additionally, several conditions in terms of real-valued linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) for complete stability of the CVNNs are established via the energy minimization method and the approach that converts the complex-valued LMIs to real-valued ones. Examples with simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the theoretical analysis.

Quantized Kernel Recursive Least Squares Algorithm

Abstract: In a recent paper, we developed a novel quantized kernel least mean square algorithm, in which the input space is quantized (partitioned into smaller regions) and the network size is upper bounded by the quantization codebook size (number of the regions). In this paper, we propose the quantized kernel least squares regression, and derive the optimal solution. By incorporating a simple online vector quantization method, we derive a recursive algorithm to update the solution, namely the quantized kernel recursive least squares algorithm. The good performance of the new algorithm is demonstrated by Monte Carlo simulations.

Adaptive Learning in Tracking Control Based on the Dual Critic Network Design

Abstract: In this paper, we present a new adaptive dynamic programming approach by integrating a reference network that provides an internal goal representation to help the systems learning and optimization. Specifically, we build the reference network on top of the critic network to form a dual critic network design that contains the detailed internal goal representation to help approximate the value function. This internal goal signal, working as the reinforcement signal for the critic network in our design, is adaptively generated by the reference network and can also be adjusted automatically. In this way, we provide an alternative choice rather than crafting the reinforcement signal manually from prior knowledge. In this paper, we adopt the online action-dependent heuristic dynamic programming (ADHDP) design and provide the detailed design of the dual critic network structure. Detailed Lyapunov stability analysis for our proposed approach is presented to support the proposed structure from a theoretical point of view. Furthermore, we also develop a virtual reality platform to demonstrate the real-time simulation of our approach under different disturbance situations. The overall adaptive learning performance has been tested on two tracking control benchmarks with a tracking filter. For comparative studies, we also present the tracking performance with the typical ADHDP, and the simulation results justify the improved performance with our approach.

Neural-Adaptive Control of Single-Master–Multiple-Slaves Teleoperation for Coordinated Multiple Mobile Manipulators With Time-Varying Communication Delays and Input Uncertainties

Abstract: In this paper, adaptive neural network control is investigated for single-master-multiple-slaves teleoperation in consideration of time delays and input dead-zone uncertainties for multiple mobile manipulators carrying a common object in a cooperative manner. Firstly, concise dynamics of teleoperation systems consisting of a single master robot, multiple coordinated slave robots, and the object are developed in the task space. To handle asymmetric time-varying delays in communication channels and unknown asymmetric input dead zones, the nonlinear dynamics of the teleoperation system are transformed into two subsystems through feedback linearization: local master or slave dynamics including the unknown input dead zones and delayed dynamics for the purpose of synchronization. Then, a model reference neural network control strategy based on linear matrix inequalities (LMI) and adaptive techniques is proposed. The developed control approach ensures that the defined tracking errors converge to zero whereas the coordination internal force errors remain bounded and can be made arbitrarily small. Throughout this paper, stability analysis is performed via explicit Lyapunov techniques under specific LMI conditions. The proposed adaptive neural network control scheme is robust against motion disturbances, parametric uncertainties, time-varying delays, and input dead zones, which is validated by simulation studies.

Fuzzy-Neural-Network Inherited Sliding-Mode Control for Robot Manipulator Including Actuator Dynamics

Abstract: This paper presents the design and analysis of an intelligent control system that inherits the robust properties of sliding-mode control (SMC) for an n-link robot manipulator, including actuator dynamics in order to achieve a high-precision position tracking with a firm robustness. First, the coupled higher order dynamic model of an n-link robot manipulator is briefy introduced. Then, a conventional SMC scheme is developed for the joint position tracking of robot manipulators. Moreover, a fuzzy-neural-network inherited SMC (FNNISMC) scheme is proposed to relax the requirement of detailed system information and deal with chattering control efforts in the SMC system. In the FNNISMC strategy, the FNN framework is designed to mimic the SMC law, and adaptive tuning algorithms for network parameters are derived in the sense of projection algorithm and Lyapunov stability theorem to ensure the network convergence as well as stable control performance. Numerical simulations and experimental results of a two-link robot manipulator actuated by DC servo motors are provided to justify the claims of the proposed FNNISMC system, and the superiority of the proposed FNNISMC scheme is also evaluated by quantitative comparison with previous intelligent control schemes.

Identification and Prediction of Dynamic Systems Using an Interactively Recurrent Self-Evolving Fuzzy Neural Network

Abstract: This paper presents a novel recurrent fuzzy neural network, called an interactively recurrent self-evolving fuzzy neural network (IRSFNN), for prediction and identification of dynamic systems. The recurrent structure in an IRSFNN is formed as an external loops and internal feedback by feeding the rule firing strength of each rule to others rules and itself. The consequent part in the IRSFNN is composed of a Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) or functional-link-based type. The proposed IRSFNN employs a functional link neural network (FLNN) to the consequent part of fuzzy rules for promoting the mapping ability. Unlike a TSK-type fuzzy neural network, the FLNN in the consequent part is a nonlinear function of input variables. An IRSFNNs learning starts with an empty rule base and all of the rules are generated and learned online through a simultaneous structure and parameter learning. An on-line clustering algorithm is effective in generating fuzzy rules. The consequent update parameters are derived by a variable-dimensional Kalman filter algorithm. The premise and recurrent parameters are learned through a gradient descent algorithm. We test the IRSFNN for the prediction and identification of dynamic plants and compare it to other well-known recurrent FNNs. The proposed model obtains enhanced performance results.

Stability and Synchronization of Discrete-Time Neural Networks With Switching Parameters and Time-Varying Delays

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the problems of exponential stability analysis and synchronization of discrete-time switched delayed neural networks. Using the average dwell time approach together with the piecewise Lyapunov function technique, sufficient conditions are proposed to guarantee the exponential stability for the switched neural networks with time-delays. Benefitting from the delay partitioning method and the free-weighting matrix technique, the conservatism of the obtained results is reduced. In addition, the decay estimates are explicitly given and the synchronization problem is solved. The results reported in this paper not only depend upon the delay, but also depend upon the partitioning, which aims at reducing the conservatism. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the derived theoretical results.

Rapid Feedforward Computation by Temporal Encoding and Learning With Spiking Neurons

Abstract: Primates perform remarkably well in cognitive tasks such as pattern recognition. Motivated by recent findings in biological systems, a unified and consistent feedforward system network with a proper encoding scheme and supervised temporal rules is built for solving the pattern recognition task. The temporal rules used for processing precise spiking patterns have recently emerged as ways of emulating the brain's computation from its anatomy and physiology. Most of these rules could be used for recognizing different spatiotemporal patterns. However, there arises the question of whether these temporal rules could be used to recognize real-world stimuli such as images. Furthermore, how the information is represented in the brain still remains unclear. To tackle these problems, a proper encoding method and a unified computational model with consistent and efficient learning rule are proposed. Through encoding, external stimuli are converted into sparse representations, which also have properties of invariance. These temporal patterns are then learned through biologically derived algorithms in the learning layer, followed by the final decision presented through the readout layer. The performance of the model with images of digits from the MNIST database is presented. The results show that the proposed model is capable of recognizing images correctly with a performance comparable to that of current benchmark algorithms. The results also suggest a plausibility proof for a class of feedforward models of rapid and robust recognition in the brain.

Transductive Face Sketch-Photo Synthesis

Abstract: Face sketch-photo synthesis plays a critical role in many applications, such as law enforcement and digital entertainment Recently, many face sketch-photo synthesis methods have been proposed under the framework of inductive learning, and these have obtained promising performance However, these inductive learning-based face sketch-photo synthesis methods may result in high losses for test samples, because inductive learning minimizes the empirical loss for training samples This paper presents a novel transductive face sketch-photo synthesis method that incorporates the given test samples into the learning process and optimizes the performance on these test samples In particular, it defines a probabilistic model to optimize both the reconstruction fidelity of the input photo (sketch) and the synthesis fidelity of the target output sketch (photo), and efficiently optimizes this probabilistic model by alternating optimization The proposed transductive method significantly reduces the expected high loss and improves the synthesis performance for test samples Experimental results on the Chinese University of Hong Kong face sketch data set demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing it with representative inductive learning-based face sketch-photo synthesis methods

Multiview Vector-Valued Manifold Regularization for Multilabel Image Classification

Abstract: In computer vision, image datasets used for classification are naturally associated with multiple labels and comprised of multiple views, because each image may contain several objects (e.g., pedestrian, bicycle, and tree) and is properly characterized by multiple visual features (e.g., color, texture, and shape). Currently, available tools ignore either the label relationship or the view complementarily. Motivated by the success of the vector-valued function that constructs matrix-valued kernels to explore the multilabel structure in the output space, we introduce multiview vector-valued manifold regularization $({\rm MV}^{3}{\rm MR})$ to integrate multiple features. ${\rm MV}^{3}{\rm MR}$ exploits the complementary property of different features and discovers the intrinsic local geometry of the compact support shared by different features under the theme of manifold regularization. We conduct extensive experiments on two challenging, but popular, datasets, PASCAL VOC' 07 and MIR Flickr, and validate the effectiveness of the proposed ${\rm MV}^{3}{\rm MR}$ for image classification.

Dynamic Sampling Approach to Training Neural Networks for Multiclass Imbalance Classification

Abstract: Class imbalance learning tackles supervised learning problems where some classes have significantly more examples than others. Most of the existing research focused only on binary-class cases. In this paper, we study multiclass imbalance problems and propose a dynamic sampling method (DyS) for multilayer perceptrons (MLP). In DyS, for each epoch of the training process, every example is fed to the current MLP and then the probability of it being selected for training the MLP is estimated. DyS dynamically selects informative data to train the MLP. In order to evaluate DyS and understand its strength and weakness, comprehensive experimental studies have been carried out. Results on 20 multiclass imbalanced data sets show that DyS can outperform the compared methods, including pre-sample methods, active learning methods, cost-sensitive methods, and boosting-type methods.

New Algebraic Criteria for Synchronization Stability of Chaotic Memristive Neural Networks With Time-Varying Delays

Abstract: In this brief, we consider the exponential synchronization of chaotic memristive neural networks with time-varying delays using the Lyapunov functional method and inequality technique. The dynamic analysis here employs the theory of differential equations with discontinuous right-hand side as introduced by Filippov. The designing laws in the synchronization of neural networks are proposed via state or output coupling. In addition, the new proposed algebraic criteria are very easy to verify, and they also enrich and improve the earlier publications. Finally, an example is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Just-In-Time Classifiers for Recurrent Concepts

Abstract: Just-in-time (JIT) classifiers operate in evolving environments by classifying instances and reacting to concept drift. In stationary conditions, a JIT classifier improves its accuracy over time by exploiting additional supervised information coming from the field. In nonstationary conditions, however, the classifier reacts as soon as concept drift is detected; the current classification setup is discarded and a suitable one activated to keep the accuracy high. We present a novel generation of JIT classifiers able to deal with recurrent concept drift by means of a practical formalization of the concept representation and the definition of a set of operators working on such representations. The concept-drift detection activity, which is crucial in promptly reacting to changes exactly when needed, is advanced by considering change-detection tests monitoring both inputs and classes distributions.

Controllability and Observability of Boolean Control Networks With Time-Variant Delays in States

Abstract: This brief investigates the controllability and observability of Boolean control networks with (not necessarily bounded) time-variant delays in states. After a brief introduction to converting a Boolean control network to an equivalent discrete-time bilinear dynamical system via the semi-tensor product of matrices, the system is split into a finite number of subsystems (constructed forest) with no time delays by using the idea of splitting time that is proposed in this brief. Then, the controllability and observability of the system are investigated by verifying any so-called controllability constructed path and any so-called observability constructed paths in the above forest, respectively, which generalize some recent relevant results. Matrix test criteria for the controllability and observability are given. The corresponding control design algorithms based on the controllability theorems are given. We also show that the computing complexity of our algorithm is much less than that of the existing algorithms.