Recent advances in event-triggered security control of networked systems: a survey

Abstract

Security control of networked control systems (NCSs) under vulnerable communication environments has become an important topic both in theory and in practice. Due to malicious attacks, some control issues like event-triggered control are difficult to be addressed since digital signals may be modified by hackers when transmitted through the communication networks. This paper aims to provide a survey of recent advances in event-triggered security control for NCSs under malicious attacks. First, several typical models on cyber-attacks from the communication layer are elaborated. Second, a number of secure control results reported in the literature are reviewed and in-depth analysis is made on several improved event-triggered strategies resilient to cyber-attacks, including the hybrid-triggered strategy, the adaptive event-triggered strategy, the dynamic event-triggered strategy, the memory-based event-triggered strategy, the switching-like event-triggered strategy, and the stochastic event-triggered strategy. Third, under randomly occurring denial-of-service attacks, an application of part event-triggered secure resilient control to power systems with a load frequency control scheme coordinated electric vehicles is analysed. Finally, several challenging issues on event-triggered control based on cyber-attacks are presented to direct the future research in the field.

Keywords:

• Event-triggered strategy
• networked control systems
• security control
• cyber-attacks

Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61833011 and 62173218, in part by the National Key Research and Development Program under Grant 2020YFB1708200.

Notes on contributors

Jiancun Wu

Jiancun Wu received the B.Sc. degree in mathematics from Huainan Normal University, Huainan, China, in 2013, and the M.Sc. degree in operational research and cybernetics from China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2017. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering with Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. His current research interests include security control of networked systems and event-triggered scheduling strategies.

Chen Peng

Chen Peng received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in coal preparation, and the Ph.D. degree in control theory and control engineering from the Chinese University of Mining Technology, Xuzhou, China, in 1996, 1999, and 2002, respectively. From November 2004 to January 2005, he was a Research Associate with the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. From July 2006 to August 2007, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. From July 2011 to August 2012, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia. From 2009 to 2012, he was the Department Head with the Department of Automation, and a Professor with the School of Electrical and automation Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China. In 2012, he was appointed as a Eastern Scholar with the Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai, China, and joined Shanghai University, Shanghai, where he is currently the Director with the Centre of Networked Control Systems and a Distinguished Professor. In 2018, he was appointed as an Outstanding Academic Leader with the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, Shanghai. His current research interests include networked control systems, distributed control systems, smart grid, and intelligent control systems. Prof. Peng is an Associate Editor of a number of international journals, including the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, Information Sciences, and Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control. He was named a Highly Cited Researcher 2020 by Clarivate Analytics.

Hongchenyu Yang

Hongchenyu Yang received the B.Sc. degree from Shanghai University, Shanghai, China, in 2020. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering with Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. Her current research interests include security control of distributed networked systems and scheduling protocol.

Yu-Long Wang

Yu-Long Wang received the B.S. degree in Computer Science and Technology from Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China, in 2000, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Control Science and Engineering from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 2006 and 2008, respectively. He was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow and a Research Fellow with Central Queensland University, North Rockhampton, QLD, Australia, an Academic Visitor with the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia, and a Professor with Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China. In 2017, he was appointed as an Eastern Scholar by the Municipal Commission of Education, Shanghai, China, and joined Shanghai University, Shanghai, China, where he is currently a professor. His current research interests include networked control systems, fault detection, and the motion control for marine vehicles.