Network Information Systems

Book excerpt: This text presents a unique treatment of network control systems. Drawing from fundamental principles of dynamical systems theory and dynamical thermodynamics, the authors develop a continuous-time, discrete-time, and hybrid dynamical system and control framework for linear and nonlinear large-scale network systems. The proposed framework extends the concepts of energy, entropy, and temperature to undirected and directed information networks. Continuous-time, discrete-time, and hybrid thermodynamic principles are used to design distributed control protocol algorithms for static and dynamic networked systems in the face of system uncertainty, exogenous disturbances, imperfect system network communication, and time delays. Network Information Systems: A Dynamical Systems Approach is written for applied mathematicians, dynamical systems theorists, control theorists, and engineers. Researchers and graduate students in a variety of fields who seek a fundamental understanding of the rich behavior of controlled large-scale network systems will also find this book useful. This book can be used for a first course on control design of large-scale network systems, such as control protocols for network systems, network information systems, a dynamical systems approach to network systems, and network thermodynamic systems. The prerequisites are a first course in nonlinear systems theory and a first course in advanced (multivariable) calculus.