System and method for selecting measurement nodes to estimate and track state in dynamic networks

Described is a system for selecting measurement nodes in a distributed physical system of agents. In operation, the distributed physical system is represented as a multi-layer network having a communication layer and an agent layer. The communication layer represents the amount of collective communication activities between any pair of areas and the agent layer represents movement of agents within the distributed physical system such that the communication layer and agent layer collectively generate network dynamics. The network dynamics are modeled as hybrid partial differential equations (PDEs) with measurable interconnected states in the communication layer. Notably, placement of a minimum set of measurement nodes is determined within the distributed physical system to provide full-state observability of the distributed physical system. The system can then track the full system state and apply compensation to one or more agents in the distributed physical system based on tracking the full system state.