Pinning Control and Controllability of Complex Dynamical Networks

In this article, the notion of pinning control for directed networks of dynamical systems is introduced, where the nodes could be either single-input single-output (SISO) or multi-input multi-output (MIMO) dynamical systems, and could be non-identical and nonlinear in general but will be specified to be identical linear time-invariant (LTI) systems here in the study of network controllability. Both state and structural controllability problems will be discussed, illustrating how the network topology, node-system dynamics, external control inputs and inner dynamical interactions altogether affect the controllability of a general complex network of LTI systems, with necessary and sufficient conditions presented for both SISO and MIMO settings. To that end, the controllability of a special temporally switching directed network of linear time-varying (LTV) node systems will be addressed, leaving some more general networks and challenging issues to the end for research outlook.