Robustness of hierarchical spatial critical infrastructure networks

PhD ThesisThe economic state and wellbeing of a nation is dependent upon the critical infrastructure networks that deliver resources, goods and services. However, these are increasingly exposed to a number of hazards, both natural and man-made, which threaten to disrupt their ability to function. It is essential that in order to develop long-term strategic plans of infrastructure provision we are able to understand their current robustness to such hazards. The robustness of critical infrastructure networks has typically been investigated from a topological perspective as a means of simplifying the complexities associated with their analysis. Such work has led to many studies suggesting critical infrastructures exhibit a topological structure, from random to exponential degree distributions. However, often such analysis ignores the explicit spatial characteristics of the node and edge assets. Furthermore, the very nature of topological analysis means that flows/movements that take place over such networks cannot be considered. This work addresses these weaknesses by extending traditional topological analysis to consider emergent properties critical infrastructure networks exhibit when considering higher-order connectivity and flows. An analysis of a suite of synthetic networks with a spectrum of topologies alongside real infrastructure spatial networks, in terms of their basic topology and high-order connectivity, shows that a number of critical infrastructure networks seem to be better characterised as hierarchical networks. Subsequent failure modelling reveals that such hierarchical networks responded in a dramatically different manner to perturbations; complete failure occurring approximately 19 and 34 percent sooner for random and targeted failures compared to random networks. Such poor robustness is further exacerbated when flow simulation modelling over the resulting hierarchical networks is undertaken, revealing particular sensitivity to cascading failures from spatial hazards. In light of these results, it is suggested that it is essential to improve the robustness of critical infrastructure networks that exhibit a hierarchical spatial organisation.School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University

Robustness and edge addition strategy of air transport networks : a case study of 'the Belt and Road'

Air transportation is of great importance in "the Belt and Road" (the B&R) region. The achievement of the B&R initiative relies on the availability, reliability, and safety of air transport infrastructure. A fundamental step is to find the critical elements in network performance. Considering the uneven distributions of population and economy, the current literature focusing on centrality measures in unweighted networks is not sufficient in the B&R region. By differentiating power and centrality in the B&R region, our analysis leads to two conclusions: (1) Deactivating powerful nodes causes a larger decrease in efficiency than deactivating central nodes. This indicates that powerful nodes in the B&R region are more critical than central nodes for network robustness. (2) Strategically adding edges between high powerful and low powerful nodes can enhance the network's ability to exchange resources efficiently. These findings can be used to adjust government policies for air transport configuration to achieve the best network performance and the most cost effective

Current capabilities, requirements and a proposed strategy for interdependency analysis in the UK

The UK government recently commissioned a research study to identify the state-of-the-art in Critical Infrastructure modelling and analysis, and the government/industry requirements for such tools and services. This study (Cetifs) concluded with a strategy aiming to bridge the gaps between the capabilities and requirements, which would establish interdependency analysis as a commercially viable service in the near future. This paper presents the findings of this study that was carried out by CSR, City University London, Adelard LLP, a safety/security consultancy and Cranfield University, defense academy of the UK

Infrastructure network vulnerability

The work presented in this paper aims to propose a methodology of analyzing infrastructure network vulnerability in the field of prevention or reduction of the natural disaster consequences. After a state of the art on vulnerability models in the academic literature, the various vulnerability factors are classified and discussed. Eventually, a general model of vulnerability analysis including societal parameters is presented

Critical Cooperation Range to Improve Spatial Network Robustness

A robust worldwide air-transportation network (WAN) is one that minimizes the number of stranded passengers under a sequence of airport closures. Building on top of this realistic example, here we address how spatial network robustness can profit from cooperation between local actors. We swap a series of links within a certain distance, a cooperation range, while following typical constraints of spatially embedded networks. We find that the network robustness is only improved above a critical cooperation range. Such improvement can be described in the framework of a continuum transition, where the critical exponents depend on the spatial correlation of connected nodes. For the WAN we show that, except for Australia, all continental networks fall into the same universality class. Practical implications of this result are also discussed

Management and Service-aware Networking Architectures (MANA) for Future Internet Position Paper: System Functions, Capabilities and Requirements

Future Internet (FI) research and development threads have recently been gaining momentum all over the world and as such the international race to create a new generation Internet is in full swing: GENI, Asia Future Internet, Future Internet Forum Korea, European Union Future Internet Assembly (FIA). This is a position paper identifying the research orientation with a time horizon of 10 years, together with the key challenges for the capabilities in the Management and Service-aware Networking Architectures (MANA) part of the Future Internet (FI) allowing for parallel and federated Internet(s)