A New Paradigm for Analysis of Complex, Networked, Social and Engineering Systems
Abstract
Many current military visions convincingly suggest that net-centric technology can provide unprecedentedlevels of performance, robustness, and efficiency. In these visions, the strategiccommand of information and decision-making renders obsolete the brute-force approach of overwhelmingan enemy with vast resources, with information and decisions playing a paramount role.Unfortunately, despite many declarations, this vision has not been fully realized. The technical obstaclesto implementing this vision are many and include: lack of a comprehensive theory for decentralizedinformation aggregation and strategic decision-making in large-scale networks whereinformation is incomplete, asymmetric, and the source and reliability of available information isnot clear; the problem of data deluge; our current inability to map local structure to global functionin complex information and decision networks and systems, and our lack of rigorous understandingof collective phenomena and systemic risk in complex networks. We currently do not know how tomonitor and measure systemic risk, the phenomena according to which small idiosyncratic shockscan combine to have aggregate effects and cascades. To this end, this comprehensive proposaloutlines a rigorous basic research plan that leverages PI~s track record in developing advancedmathematical tools, new theories and methods to tackle the above challenges. Our proposed effortis organized along three major thrusts that are distinct yet interrelated: 1) An axiomatic theoryof information aggregation and strategic coordination in networks 2) Development of algebraictopologicaltools and methods for large-scale network analysis beyond graph-theoretic methods;3) A theory of cascades and systemic risk in large-scale social and engineered networks. The proposedwork will build upon PI~s more than decade long work with DoD as the lead PI of 2 andco-PI of 5 Multi Investigator University Research Initiatives (MURIs) and basic research grantsfrom ARO, ONR, AFOSR and DARPA.A
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 23, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141613163
Entities
People
- Ali Jadbabaie
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy