Resilient Control of Dynamical Flow Networks
Presenter
October 21, 2015
Keywords:
- network flows, resilience, distributed flow control
MSC:
- 76F70
Abstract
This talk focuses on distributed control of dynamical flow networks. These are modeled as dynamical systems derived from mass conservation laws on directed capacitated networks. The flow evolution through the network is governed by routing and flow control policies within constraints imposed by the network infrastructure and physical laws. Depending on the application (e.g., transportation or distribution networks), such policies are meant to represent local controls, drivers’ behavior, or a combination of the two. Versions of these models include cascading failures mechanisms, whereby overloaded links become inactive and potentially induce the overload and failure of other nodes and links in the network. We focus on efficiency, resilience, and scalability. First, we show that optimal resilience can be achieved by local feedback policies that require no global knowledge of the network. Then, we prove how optimal equilibrium selection and optimal control of the transient behavior can be cast as convex problems which are amenable to distributed solutions. Finally, we study multi-scale flow dynamics and the use of toll mechanisms to influence users' behaviors.