Transmission efficiency and robustness are two important properties of various networks and a number of optimization strategies have been proposed recently. We propose a scheme to enhance the network performance by adding a small fraction of links (or edges) to the currently existing network topology, and we present four edge addition strategies for adding edges efficiently. We aim at minimizing the maximum node betweenness of any node in the network to improve its transmission efficiency, and a number of experiments on both Barabasi–Albert (BA) and Erdos–Renyi (ER) networks have confirmed the effectiveness of our four edge addition strategies. Also, we evaluate the effect of some other measure metrics such as average path length, average betweenness, robustness, and degree distribution. Our work is very valuable and helpful for service providers to optimize their network performance by adding a small fraction of edges or to make good network planning on the existing network topology incrementally.

Enhancing network performance by edge addition

Compared with a single and isolated network, interdependent networks have two types of links: connectivity link and dependency link. This paper aims to improve the robustness of interdependent networks by adding connectivity links. Firstly, interdependent networks failure model and four frequently used link addition strategies are briefly reviewed. Furthermore, by defining inter degree–degree difference, two novel link addition strategies are proposed. Finally, we verify the effectiveness of our proposed link addition strategies by comparing with the current link addition strategies in three different network models. The simulation results show that, given the number of added links, link allocation strategies have great effects on the robustness of interdependent networks, i.e., the double-network link allocation strategy is superior to single-network link allocation strategy. Link addition strategies proposed in this paper excel the current strategies, especially for BA interdependent networks. Moreover, our work can provide guidance on how to allocate limited resources to an existing interdependent networks system and optimize its topology to avoid the potential cascade failures.

Improving interdependent networks robustness by adding connectivity links

The most important function of a network is for transporting traffic. Due to the low traffic capacity of network systems under the global shortest path routing, plenty of heuristic routing strategies are emerging. In this paper, we propose a heuristic routing strategy called the incremental routing algorithm to improve the traffic capacity of complex networks. We divide the routing process into N (the network size) steps and, at each step, we heuristically calculate all the routes for one source node considering both the dynamic efficient betweenness centrality and node degree information. We do extensive simulations on scale-free networks to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed incremental routing strategy. The simulation results show that the traffic capacity has been enhanced by a substantial factor at the expense of a slight lengthening in the average path.

Incremental routing strategy on scale-free networks

Many real networks are characterized by overlapping community structures in which vertices may belong to more than one community. In this paper, we propose a network model with overlapping community structure. The analytical and numerical results show that the connectivity distribution of this network follows a power law. We employ this network to investigate the impact of overlapping community structure on susceptible–infected–susceptible (SIS) epidemic spreading process. The simulation results indicate that significant overlapping community structure results in a major infection prevalence and leads to a peak of the spread velocity in the early stages of the emerging infection.

Epidemic spreading on networks with overlapping community structure

Traffic capacity of one network strongly depends on the link’s bandwidth allocation strategy. In previous bandwidth allocation mechanisms, once one link’s bandwidth is allocated, it will be fixed throughout the overall traffic transmission process. However, the traffic load of every link changes from time to time. In this paper, with finite total bandwidth resource of the network, we propose to dynamically allocate the total bandwidth resource in which each link’s bandwidth is proportional to the queue length of the output buffer of the link per time step. With plenty of data packets in the network, the traffic handling ability of all links of the network achieves full utilization. The theoretical analysis and the extensive simulation results on complex networks are consistent. This work is valuable for network service providers to improve network performance or to do reasonable network design efficiently.

Optimal dynamic bandwidth allocation for complex networks

In this paper, an improved routing strategy is proposed for enhancing the traffic capacity of scale-free networks. Instead of using the information of degree and betweenness centrality, the new algorithm is derived on the basis of the expanding betweenness centrality of nodes, which gives an estimate of the traffic handled by the vertex for a certain route set. Since the nodes with large betweenness centrality are more susceptible to traffic congestion, the traffic can be improved by redistributing traffic loads from nodes with large betweenness centrality to nodes with small betweenness centrality in the process of computing the collective routing table. Comparing with results of previous routing strategies, it is shown that the present improved routing performs more effectively.

Routing in scale-free networks based on expanding betweenness centrality

In this paper, an optimal routing strategy is proposed to enhance the traffic capacity of complex networks. In order to avoid nodes overloading, the new algorithm is derived on the basis of generalized betweenness centrality which gives an estimate of traffic handled by the node for a route set. Since the nodes with large betweenness centrality are more susceptible to traffic congestion, the traffic can be improved, as our strategy, by redistributing traffic load from nodes with large betweenness centrality to nodes with small betweenness centrality in the proceeding of computing collective routing table. Particularly, depending on a parameter that controls the optimization scale, the new routing can not only enlarge traffic capacity of networks more, but also enhance traffic efficiency with smaller average path length. Comparing results of previous routing strategies, it is shown that the present improved routing performs more effectively.

Optimization of transport protocols in complex networks

This paper presents an impulsive-backpropagation neural network (IBNN) based learning algorithm for detecting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), by classifying chest computed tomography (CT) images. Inspired by the nerve impulses in brain networks, the IBNN algorithm consists of two parts: a multi-layered network of impulsive neurons and a gradient decent backpropagation mechanism. The effectiveness of the IBNN algorithm is validated on clinical COVID-19 database, and a classification accuracy of 98.19% is achieved. It is further demonstrated by comparative studies that the IBNN may outperform some other learning algorithms through the integration of nerve impulses and backpropagation. Considering the intricate attributes of the chest CT scan images, the IBNN algorithm also exhibits a potential capacity of pattern recognition on complicated samples.

Detecting COVID-19 on CT Images with Impulsive-Backpropagation Neural Networks

This article studies the dynamic transmission-scheduling problem of rate-limited networked control systems with multiple loops. It is critical to develop an optimal-scheduling policy because, due to limited spectrum resources and energy budgets, only partial subsystems may have access to shared channels at each time step to update the plant states affected by stochastic disturbances. An adaptive event-triggered stochastic scheduling policy is proposed based on the one-step-ahead comparison error of state estimation between the sensor and controller. By formulating the scheduling problem as a constrained multiagent partially observable Markov decision process, a multiagent reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed to search for the optimal parameters of the scheduling policy. And an edge-assisted learning architecture is introduced to facilitate its implementation. An explicit performance index of the optimal scheduling is further obtained, revealing the effects of system disturbances, observation noises, and the communication rate constraint. Moreover, two numerical examples are given to validate the proposed scheduling policy, showing that it outperforms several competitive scheduling schemes. Due to the low computational complexity, the proposed scheduling may have an advantage in large-scale heterogeneous control systems, e.g., the flow and pressure control in fluid transport pipelines.

Long Chen

Papers

Routing in scale-free networks based on expanding betweenness centrality

Optimization of transport protocols in complex networks

Detecting COVID-19 on CT Images with Impulsive-Backpropagation Neural Networks

Adaptive Event-Triggered Transmission Scheduling in Rate-Limited Multiloop Remote Control