Controllability of Complex Networks

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A measure of our understanding of naturally occurring or artificial systems can be observed in our ability to control them. One abstract representation of such systems that is increasingly been used for analysis is that of a complex network. Complex networks are found in many domains (e.g., Biology and the Web) and the control of these networks is a research topic that has started to draw increasing research attention. While engineering has provided tools for developing control systems which can force a system to follow a particular state trajectory, no framework exists for control of complex, possibly self-organizing, networks. The main objective of this proposal is to identify conditions under which control is possible in complex networks and develop control solutions for exemplar problems within the domain of network controllability. The novelty of this research is in its exploration of the solution to the interacting problems of deciding which nodes in the network to control and which signals to inject into the selected network nodes in order to achieve a particular time dependent objective.