On the Structural Target Controllability of Undirected Networks

In this article, we study the target controllability problem of networked dynamical systems,in which we are tasked to steer a subset of network nodes toward a desired objective. More specifically, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the structural target controllability of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems with symmetric state matrices, such as those representing undirected dynamical networks with unknown link weights. To achieve our goal, we first characterize the generic rank of symmetrically structured matrices, as well as the modes of any numerical realization. Subsequently, we provide graph-theoretic necessary and sufficient conditions for the structural target controllability of undirected networks with multiple control nodes. In addition, we show that these results can be extended and lead to a necessary and sufficient condition of the structural output controllability. However, different from structural target controllability, we prove that verifying the proposed conditions on structural output controllability in undirected networks is NP-hard.

Automated summary

This article explores the target controllability problem of networked dynamical systems, deriving necessary and sufficient conditions for the structural target controllability of LTI systems with symmetric state matrices and providing graph-theoretic conditions for undirected networks. The results can also be extended to structural output controllability, but verifying these conditions in undirected networks is proven to be NP-hard.