Networked Dynamical Systems Group

The Networked Dynamical Systems Group at the University of California, Berkeley develops design and analysis techniques for desirable dynamical behaviors of networks and applies them to multi-agent systems and biological networks. The key challenges in this endeavor are the complexity and size of the models describing networked systems, and the uncertainty and heterogeneity of the components. To overcome these challenges, our approach is to heavily exploit the structure of the network interconnection, while representing the components with a broad description of their essential properties that are relevant to the ensemble behavior. Structure indeed plays a major role in shaping the network dynamics. Analysis tools that recognize and take advantage of structure avoid undue conservatism in predicting dynamical properties. Likewise, feedback designs that exploit structure work in harmony with inherent system properties rather than override them.