A New Method for Topology Identification of Complex Dynamical Networks

Topology identification of complex dynamical networks received extensive attention in the past decade. Most existing studies rely heavily on the linear independence condition (LIC). We find that a critical step in using this condition is not rigorous. Besides, it is difficult to verify this condition. Without regulating the original network, possible identification failure caused by network synchronization cannot be avoided. In this paper, we propose a new method to overcome these shortcomings. We add a regulation mechanism to the original network and construct an auxiliary network consisting of isolated nodes. Along with the outer synchronization between the regulated network and the auxiliary network, we show that the original network can be identified. Our method can avoid identification failure caused by network synchronization. Moreover, we show that there is no need to check the LIC. We finally provide some examples to demonstrate that our method is reliable and has good performances.