Fixed‐time stability of nonlinear impulsive systems: Sufficient criteria and necessary condition

Abstract This article explores the criteria for fixed‐time stability (FxTS) within nonlinear impulsive dynamical systems, encompassing both stabilizing and destabilizing impulses. Initially, employing the Lyapunov method, the article delineates a criterion for FxTS, particularly when impulsive sequences are delineated by an average impulsive interval. Following this, the article innovatively applies two integral inequalities to introduce an optimized criterion for uniform impulsive sequences, evidencing its lesser conservativeness relative to the initial criterion. Moreover, this article derives a necessary condition for dynamical systems subjected to destabilizing impulses. Intriguingly, the investigation reveals the existence of a minimal threshold for the maximum impulsive interval, below which the system cannot achieve FxTS. This result elucidates why existing literature uniformly imposes a specific condition on the impulsive interval for destabilizing impulses. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed theory is underscored through numerical examples.