Observability of Nonlinear Complex Networks in the Presence of Symmetries: A Graphical Approach

Abstract: Reconstructing the states of the nodes of a dynamical network is a problem of fundamental importance in the study of neuronal and genetic networks. An underlying related problem is that of observability, i.e., identifying the conditions under which such a reconstruction is possible. In this paper we study observability of complex dynamical networks, where we consider the effects of network symmetries on observability. We present an efficient algorithm that returns a minimal set of necessary sensor nodes for observability in the presence of symmetries.