Preservation of stability in delay equations under delay perturbations (Q1269648)

The paper deals with the delay differential equation \[ \dot x(t)= \sum^m_{i= 0} A_i x(t- r_i- \eta_i(t)),\quad t\geq 0,\tag{1} \] with the initial condition \(x(t)= \varphi(t)\), \(-r\leq t\leq 0\), where the \(A_i\), \(i= 0,\dots, m\), denote constant \(n\times n\) matrices, \(0\leq r_0\leq r_1\leq\cdots\leq r_m\), \(\varphi: [-r,0]\to \mathbb{R}^n\) is a continuous function, and the piecewise continuous delay perturbations \(\eta_i\), \(i= 0,\dots, m\), satisfy \(t- r\leq t- r_i- \eta_i(t)\leq t\) for \(t\geq 0\), \(i= 0,\dots, m\). The authors present conditions which guarantee that the asymptotic stability of the trivial solution to the equation with perturbed time lags is presented under these perturbations. As an example, the authors show how the results can be used to obtain an estimate on the maximum allowable sampling interval in the stabilization of a hybrid system with feedback delays.