Scalability and Fragility in Bounded-Degree Consensus Networks

We investigate the performance of linear consensus algorithms subject to a scaling of the underlying network size. Specifically, we model networked systems with n^th order integrator dynamics over families of undirected, weighted graphs with bounded nodal degrees. In such networks, the algebraic connectivity affects convergence rates, sensitivity, and, for high-order consensus [n ≥ 3), stability properties. This connectivity scales unfavorably in network size, except in expander families, where consensus performs well regardless of network size. We show, however, that consensus over expander families is fragile to a grounding of the network (resulting in leader-follower consensus). We show that grounding may deteriorate system performance by orders of magnitude in large networks, or cause instability in high-order consensus. Our results, which we illustrate through simulations, also point to a fundamental limitation to the scalability of consensus networks with leaders, which does not apply to leaderless networks.