Dynamical Network Size Estimation from Local Observations

Here we present a method to estimate the total number of nodes of a network using locally observed response dynamics. The algorithm has the following advantages: (a) it is data-driven. Therefore it does not require any prior knowledge about the model; (b) it does not need to collect measurements from multiple stimulus; and (c) it is distributed as it uses local information only, without any prior information about the global network. Even if only a single node is measured, the exact network size can be correctly estimated using a single trajectory. The proposed algorithm has been applied to both linear and nonlinear networks in simulation, illustrating the applicability to real-world physical networks.