Further on the controllability of networked MIMO LTI systems

Further on the controllability of networked multiple‐input–multiple‐output systems, an efficient, necessary, and sufficient condition is derived, where the network topology is directed and weighted and the nodes are higher‐dimensional linear time‐invariant systems. The new condition is easier to verify, which explicitly shows the effects of the network topology, node‐system dynamics, external control inputs, and inner interactions on the controllability of the whole networked system. For networked multiple‐input–multiple‐output systems in several specific topologies, the corresponding conditions are expressed more precisely. The effectiveness of the conditions is demonstrated through several examples.