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Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack

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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Fault Diagnosis & Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 12641

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Prof. Dr. Fanglai Zhu

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Guest Editor

College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
Interests: unknown input observer design; disturbance observer design; fault diagnosis; fault detection and fault-tolerant control; security control for CPS; security state estimation; cooperative control for multi-agent system; attack detection for CPS and MAS; T-S fuzzy model control; sliding mode robust control
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cyber–physical systems (CPS) and multi-agent systems (MAS) are two major complex networks which can represent or be applied to many practical systems. For example, CPS has been applied to the energy system, smart grid system, and industrial control system. For MAS, multi-robot formations, unmanned aerial vehicles, and intelligent transportation systems are some application scenarios. To work normally for CPS or MAS, the information transmission between the cyber layer and the physical layer is necessary for CPS, while information transmission among the agents is also a must for MAS. All the information transmissions are carried out through public transmission channels, which easily suffer from external malicious attacks. Moreover, the actuator and sensor are two components that often experience faults. Therefore, the investigation of the security control for CPS and/or MAS under fault or malicious attack is significant. In this section, for CPS and/or MAS, we focus on, but are not limited to, the following issues:

Security state estimation and disturbance reconstruction under denial-of-service (DoS) or false-date-injection (FDI) attacks;
Fault detection, fault reconstruction, and fault-tolerant control;
Security cooperative control (consensus and synchronization, formation-containment tracking control, swarming control) under DoS or FDI attacks;
Self-trigger-based security control under DoS attack;
Leader–follower MAS observer-based human-in-the-loop consensus control;
MAS-based distributed resilient control in view of CPS;
MAS consensus control and its application to vehicle platoon system.

Prof. Dr. Fanglai Zhu
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5135 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improved Dynamic Event-Triggered Robust Control for Flexible Robotic Arm Systems with Semi-Markov Jump Process

by Huiyan Zhang, Zixian Chen, Wengang Ao and Peng Shi

Sensors 2023, 23(12), 5523; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23125523 - 12 Jun 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2003

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the problem of a dynamic event-triggered robust controller design for flexible robotic arm systems with continuous-time phase-type semi-Markov jump process. In particular, the change in moment of inertia is first considered in the flexible robotic arm system, which is necessary for ensuring the security and stability control of special robots employed under special circumstances, such as surgical robots and assisted-living robots which have strict lightweight requirements. To handle this problem, a semi-Markov chain is conducted to model this process. Furthermore, the dynamic event-triggered scheme is used to solve the problem of limited bandwidth in the network transmission environment, while considering the impact of DoS attacks. With regard to the challenging circumstances and negative elements previously mentioned, the adequate criteria for the existence of the resilient

H_{\infty}

controller are obtained using the Lyapunov function approach, and the controller gains, Lyapunov parameters and event-triggered parameters are co-designed. Finally, the effectiveness of the designed controller is demonstrated via numerical simulation using the LMI toolbox in MATLAB. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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16 pages, 460 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Consensus Control of Linear Parameter-Varying Multi-Agent Systems with Unknown Inputs

by Fanglai Zhu and Chengmin Tan

Sensors 2023, 23(11), 5125; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23115125 - 27 May 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1386

Abstract

This paper investigates the observer-based consensus control problem for linear parameter-varying (LPV) multi-agent systems (MASs) with unknown inputs. Firstly, an interval observer (IO) is designed to generate the state interval estimation for each agent. Secondly, an algebraic relationship is established between the system state and unknown input (UI). Thirdly, an unknown input observer (UIO) capable of generating estimates of UI and the system state has been developed through the algebraic relations. Finally, a UIO-based distributed control protocol scheme is proposed to realize the consensus of the MASs. In the end, to verify the validity of the proposed method, an example of a numerical simulation is given. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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21 pages, 715 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predefined Time Synchronization of Multi-Agent Systems: A Passivity Based Analysis

by Vinay Pandey, Eram Taslima, Bhawana Singh, Shyam Kamal and Thach Ngoc Dinh

Sensors 2023, 23(8), 3865; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23083865 - 10 Apr 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2216

Abstract

This paper deals with the predefined-time synchronization for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems. The notion of passivity is exploited to design the controller for predefined-time synchronization of a nonlinear multi-agent system, where the time of synchronization can be preassigned. Developed control can be used to synchronize large-scale, higher-order multi-agent systems as passivity is an important property in designing control for complex control systems, where the control inputs and outputs are considered in determining the stability of the system in contrast to other approaches, such as state-based Control We introduced the notion of predefined-time passivity and as an application of the exposed stability analysis, static and adaptive predefined-time control algorithms are designed to study the average consensus problem for nonlinear leaderless multiagent systems in predefined-time. We provide a detailed mathematical analysis of the proposed protocol, including convergence proof and stability analysis. We discussed the tracking problem for a single agent, and designed state feedback and adaptive state feedback control scheme to make tracking error predefined-time passive and then showed that in the absence of external input, tracking error reduces to zero in predefined-time. Furthermore, we extended this concept for a nonlinear multi-agent system and designed state feedback and adaptive state feedback control scheme which ensure synchronization of all the agents in predefined-time. To further strengthen the idea, we applied our control scheme to a nonlinear multi-agent system by taking the example of Chua’s circuit. Finally, we compared the result of our developed predefined-time synchronization framework with finite-time synchronization scheme available in literature for the Kuramoto model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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25 pages, 894 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Observability Decomposition-Based Decentralized Kalman Filter and Its Application to Resilient State Estimation under Sensor Attacks

by Chanhwa Lee

Sensors 2022, 22(18), 6909; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22186909 - 13 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1966

Abstract

This paper considers a discrete-time linear time invariant system in the presence of Gaussian disturbances/noises and sparse sensor attacks. First, we propose an optimal decentralized multi-sensor information fusion Kalman filter based on the observability decomposition when there is no sensor attack. The proposed decentralized Kalman filter deploys a bank of local observers who utilize their own single sensor information and generate the state estimate for the observable subspace. In the absence of an attack, the state estimate achieves the minimum variance, and the computational process does not suffer from the divergent error covariance matrix. Second, the decentralized Kalman filter method is applied in the presence of sparse sensor attacks as well as Gaussian disturbances/noises. Based on the redundant observability, an attack detection scheme by the

χ^{2}

test and a resilient state estimation algorithm by the maximum likelihood decision rule among multiple hypotheses, are presented. The secure state estimation algorithm finally produces a state estimate that is most likely to have minimum variance with an unbiased mean. Simulation results on a motor controlled multiple torsion system are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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20 pages, 948 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Formation Control of Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems under Directed Communication Topology

by Shangkun Liu, Bin Jiang, Zehui Mao and Yajie Ma

Sensors 2022, 22(16), 6212; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22166212 - 18 Aug 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2287

Abstract

This paper investigates the adaptive fault-tolerant formation control scheme for heterogeneous multi-agent systems consisting of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with actuator faults, parameter uncertainties and external disturbances under directed communication topology. Firstly, the dynamic models of UAVs and USVs are introduced, and a unified heterogeneous multi-agent system model with actuator faults is established. Then, a distributed fault-tolerant formation controller is proposed for the unified model of UAVs and USVs in the

X Y

plane by using adaptive updating laws and radial basis function neural network. After that, a decentralized formation-tracking controller is designed for the altitude control system of UAVs. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, it can be proved that the formation errors and tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded which means that the expected time-varying formation is achieved. Finally, a simulation study is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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12 pages, 3682 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Safety Impact Analysis Considering Physical Failures and Cyber-Attacks for Mechanically Pumped Loop Systems (MPLs)

by Wenbo Wu, Lu Zhang, Hongyong Fu, Ke Wang and Xuzhi Li

Sensors 2022, 22(13), 4780; https://doi.org/10.3390/s22134780 - 24 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1782

Abstract

As complex systems composed of physical and cyber components, mechanically pumped loop systems (MPLs) are vulnerable to both passive threats (e.g., physical failures) and active threats such as cyber-attacks launched on the network control systems. The impact of the aforementioned two threats on MPL operations is yet unknown, and there is no practical way to evaluate their severity. To assess the severity of the impact of physical failures and cyber-attacks on MPLs, a safety impact analysis framework based on Elman Neural Network (ENN) observers and the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) algorithm is suggested. The framework discusses three common attack and failure modes: sensor hard failure that occurs suddenly, sensor soft failure that occurs gradually over time, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks that prevent communication between the controller and valve. Both sensor failures and DoS attacks render the system unsafe, according to simulation data. In comparison to DoS attacks, however, sensor failures, particularly soft failures, inflict the greatest harm to the MPLs. Furthermore, sensors engaged in global control, rather than those involved in local control, need additional protection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security Control for a Cyber–Physical System and/or Multi-Agent System under Fault or Malicious Attack)

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