Graph Theoretic Methods in Multiagent Networks

This accessible book provides an introduction to the analysis and design of dynamic multiagent networks. Such networks are of great interest in a wide range of areas in science and engineering, including mobile sensor networks; distributed robotics such as formation flying and swarming; quantum networks; networked economics; biological synchronization; and social networks. Focusing on graph theoretic methods for the analysis and synthesis of dynamic multiagent networks, the book presents a powerful new formalism and set of tools for networked systems. The book’s three sections look at foundations, multiagent networks, and networks as systems. The authors give an overview of important ideas from graph theory, followed by a detailed account of the agreement protocol and its various extensions, including the behavior of the protocol over undirected, directed, switching, and random networks. They cover topics such as formation control, coverage, distributed estimation, social networks, and games over networks. And they explore intriguing aspects of viewing networks as systems, by making these networks amenable to control-theoretic analysis and automatic synthesis, by monitoring their dynamic evolution, and by examining higher-order interaction models in terms of simplicial complexes and their applications. The book will interest graduate students working in systems and control, as well as computer science and robotics. It will be a standard reference for researchers seeking a self-contained account of systems-theoretic aspects of multiagent networks and their wide-ranging applications.