Control and flocking of networked systems via pinning

One of the main purposes for the study of complex network topology and modeling is to understand the influence of network structure on its function and consequently to find effective ways to improve network performance. This paper surveys some recent advances in pinning control approaches to making a dynamical network have a desired behavior. For a network with fixed topology, we review the feasibility, stability and effectiveness of pinning control and adaptive pinning control. We also review pinning-based flocking control of mobile multi-agent networked systems with time-varying topologies. Finally, we point out some future directions.