4,595 research outputs found
Controllability Metrics, Limitations and Algorithms for Complex Networks
This paper studies the problem of controlling complex networks, that is, the
joint problem of selecting a set of control nodes and of designing a control
input to steer a network to a target state. For this problem (i) we propose a
metric to quantify the difficulty of the control problem as a function of the
required control energy, (ii) we derive bounds based on the system dynamics
(network topology and weights) to characterize the tradeoff between the control
energy and the number of control nodes, and (iii) we propose an open-loop
control strategy with performance guarantees. In our strategy we select control
nodes by relying on network partitioning, and we design the control input by
leveraging optimal and distributed control techniques. Our findings show
several control limitations and properties. For instance, for Schur stable and
symmetric networks: (i) if the number of control nodes is constant, then the
control energy increases exponentially with the number of network nodes, (ii)
if the number of control nodes is a fixed fraction of the network nodes, then
certain networks can be controlled with constant energy independently of the
network dimension, and (iii) clustered networks may be easier to control
because, for sufficiently many control nodes, the control energy depends only
on the controllability properties of the clusters and on their coupling
strength. We validate our results with examples from power networks, social
networks, and epidemics spreading
Performance guarantees for greedy maximization of non-submodular controllability metrics
A key problem in emerging complex cyber-physical networks is the design of
information and control topologies, including sensor and actuator selection and
communication network design. These problems can be posed as combinatorial set
function optimization problems to maximize a dynamic performance metric for the
network. Some systems and control metrics feature a property called
submodularity, which allows simple greedy algorithms to obtain provably
near-optimal topology designs. However, many important metrics lack
submodularity and therefore lack provable guarantees for using a greedy
optimization approach. Here we show that performance guarantees can be obtained
for greedy maximization of certain non-submodular functions of the
controllability and observability Gramians. Our results are based on two key
quantities: the submodularity ratio, which quantifies how far a set function is
from being submodular, and the curvature, which quantifies how far a set
function is from being supermodular
Performance bounds for optimal feedback control in networks
Many important complex networks, including critical infrastructure and
emerging industrial automation systems, are becoming increasingly intricate
webs of interacting feedback control loops. A fundamental concern is to
quantify the control properties and performance limitations of the network as a
function of its dynamical structure and control architecture. We study
performance bounds for networks in terms of optimal feedback control costs. We
provide a set of complementary bounds as a function of the system dynamics and
actuator structure. For unstable network dynamics, we characterize a tradeoff
between feedback control performance and the number of control inputs, in
particular showing that optimal cost can increase exponentially with the size
of the network. We also derive a bound on the performance of the worst-case
actuator subset for stable networks, providing insight into dynamics properties
that affect the potential efficacy of actuator selection. We illustrate our
results with numerical experiments that analyze performance in regular and
random networks
On Submodularity and Controllability in Complex Dynamical Networks
Controllability and observability have long been recognized as fundamental
structural properties of dynamical systems, but have recently seen renewed
interest in the context of large, complex networks of dynamical systems. A
basic problem is sensor and actuator placement: choose a subset from a finite
set of possible placements to optimize some real-valued controllability and
observability metrics of the network. Surprisingly little is known about the
structure of such combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, we show
that several important classes of metrics based on the controllability and
observability Gramians have a strong structural property that allows for either
efficient global optimization or an approximation guarantee by using a simple
greedy heuristic for their maximization. In particular, the mapping from
possible placements to several scalar functions of the associated Gramian is
either a modular or submodular set function. The results are illustrated on
randomly generated systems and on a problem of power electronic actuator
placement in a model of the European power grid.Comment: Original arXiv version of IEEE Transactions on Control of Network
Systems paper (Volume 3, Issue 1), with a addendum (located in the ancillary
documents) that explains an error in a proof of the original paper and
provides a counterexample to the corresponding resul
Software systems through complex networks science: Review, analysis and applications
Complex software systems are among most sophisticated human-made systems, yet
only little is known about the actual structure of 'good' software. We here
study different software systems developed in Java from the perspective of
network science. The study reveals that network theory can provide a prominent
set of techniques for the exploratory analysis of large complex software
system. We further identify several applications in software engineering, and
propose different network-based quality indicators that address software
design, efficiency, reusability, vulnerability, controllability and other. We
also highlight various interesting findings, e.g., software systems are highly
vulnerable to processes like bug propagation, however, they are not easily
controllable
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