Optimal pinning controllability of complex networks: dependence on network structure

Controlling networked structures has many applications in science and engineering. In this paper, we consider the problem of pinning control (pinning the dynamics into the reference state), and optimally placing the driver nodes, i.e., the nodes to which the control signal is fed. Considering the local controllability concept, a metric based on the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix is taken into account as a measure of controllability. We show that the proposed optimal placement strategy considerably outperforms heuristic methods including choosing hub nodes with high degree or betweenness centrality as drivers. We also study properties of optimal drivers in terms of various centrality measures including degree, betweenness, closeness, and clustering coefficient. The profile of these centrality values depends on the network structure. For homogeneous networks such as random small-world networks, the optimal driver nodes have almost the mean centrality value of the population (much lower than the centrality value of hub nodes), whereas the centrality value of optimal drivers in heterogeneous networks such as scale-free ones is much higher than the average and close to that of hub nodes. However, as the degree of heterogeneity decreases in such networks, the profile of centrality approaches the population mean.