Complex Networks: A Networking and Signal Processing Perspective

Chapter 3Introduction to Complex Networks

Many real-world physical systems, when modeled as graphs, result in complex networks¹ due to their non-trivial network topologies. Examples of real-world complex networks can be abundantly found in many instances of natural and technological networks, such as social networks, biological networks, transportation networks, telecommunication networks, and computer networks. Categorizing a given large-scale complex network as a particular type helps substantially in understanding it. This chapter introduces different types of complex networks and presents important metrics relevant to categorizing them. The chapter also discusses community detection in complex networks, complex network entropy, and random ...