Designing Optimal Interlink Patterns to Maximize Robustness of Interdependent Networks Against Cascading Failures

In this paper, we consider the optimal design of interlinks for an interdependent system of networks. In contrast to existing literature, we explicitly exploit the information of intra-layer node degrees to design interdependent structures such that their robustness against cascading failures, triggered by randomized attacks, is maximized. Utilizing percolation theory-based system equations relating the robustness of the network to its degree sequence, we characterize the optimal design for the one-to-one structure, with complete interdependence and partial interdependence, under randomized attack. We also extend our study to the one-to-many interdependence structure and the targeted attack model. The theoretically derived optimal interdependence structures have been verified using simulations on scale-free networks.