Minimal Control Placement of Networked Reaction-Diffusion Systems Based on Turing Model

SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Volume 62, Issue 3, Page 1809-1831, June 2024.
Abstract. In this paper, we consider the problem of placing a minimal number of controls to achieve controllability for a class of networked control systems that are based on the original Turing reaction-diffusion model, which is governed by a set of ordinary differential equations with interactions defined by a ring graph. Turing model considers two morphogens reacting and diffusing over the spatial domain and has been widely accepted as one of the most fundamental models to explain pattern formation in a developing embryo. It is of great importance to understand the mechanism behind the various reaction kinetics that generate such a wide range of patterns. As a first step towards this goal, in this paper we study controllability of Turing model for the case of cells connected as a square grid in which controls can be applied to the boundary cells. We first investigate the minimal control placement problem for the diffusion only system. The eigenvalues of the diffusion matrix are classified by their geometric multiplicity, and the properties of the corresponding eigenspaces are studied. The symmetric control sets are designed to categorize control candidates by symmetry of the network topology. Then the necessary and sufficient condition is provided for placing the minimal control to guarantee controllability for the diffusion system. Furthermore, we show that the necessary condition can be extended to Turing model by a natural expansion of the symmetric control sets. Under certain circumstances, we prove that it is also sufficient to ensure controllability of Turing model.