Efficient and robust communication topologies for distributed decision making in networked systems

Distributed decision making in networked systems depends critically on the timely availability of critical fresh information. Performance of networked systems, from the perspective of achieving goals and objectives in a timely and efficient manner is constrained by their collaboration and communication structures (they are not necessarily the same) and their interplay with the networked system's dynamics. Thus autonomous agents are critically influenced by their understanding of the network communication topology. We describe efficient communication topologies for distributed decision making and relate them to small world graphs and more generally to expander graphs. In most cases achieving the system objectives requires many agent to agent communications. A reasonable measure for system robustness to communication topology change is the number of spanning trees in the graph ion of the communication system. Solutions to this problem have also applications in trust and the relation...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: CDC
• Authors: John S. Baras, Pedram Hovareshti
• Keywords: CDC 2009, Communication Topology, Control Systems, Expander Graphs, Networked System