On the structural controllability of networks of linear systems

Results on the joint (or global) controllability of networks of interconnected linear systems using the linear structured systems viewpoint are presented. Criteria to determine the joint structural controllability of a dynamical network using only the local structural controllability properties and the interconnection topology are detailed. These results provide a computationally tractable method of determining the controllability properties of large scale and complex dynamical networks and represent necessary conditions for the controllability, in the usual sense, of dynamical networks. The results hold for networks of structurally reachable linear systems with arbitrary connection topologies.