This project is developing a theoretical foundation for the design of network architecture, which is essential to understanding highly evolved, organized, and complex networks, inspired by and with application to technological, biological, ecological, and social networks, and with strong connections to real-world data. Architecture involves the most universal, high-level, and persistent elements of organization, usually defined in terms of protocols ? the rules that facilitate interaction between the diverse components of a network. Network technology promises to provide unprecedented levels of performance, efficiency, sustainability, and robustness in almost all technological, natural, and social systems. The ?robust yet fragile? (RYF) feature of complex systems is ubiquitous, and a theoretical framework to manage the complexity/fragility spirals of our future infrastructures is critical.
The intellectual merit of this project is both theoretical and practical. A theory of architecture is crucial for the design of future networks and is at the heart of sustainability. Comparison of architectures from biology, ecology, and technology has identified a variety of common characteristic organizational structures. These observations will form the basis for a mathematical theory of architecture.
The broader impact of this project is through the application of network architecture design to multiple areas of engineering and through the development of a unified approach to teaching systems and complexity. The project involves a diverse collection of researchers, including women and underrepresented minorities. Research results are disseminated not only through domain-specific journals, but also in the broad-interest high-impact literature (e.g. Science, Nature, PNAS).
