Blockchain-Assisted Intelligent Resilient Tracking Control of Networked Systems

With the increasingly integrated nature of networked control systems (NCSs), security has become a challenging issue for their widespread deployment. Although resilient control methods against various attacks have been reported, the analysis and design of defense mechanisms for NCSs still require fresh efforts. To this end, this article is concerned with the security control of a class of NCSs vulnerable to smart false data injection (FDI) attacks. Specifically, the scenario of output tracking of NCSs is considered, where the communication between sensors and controllers, as well as between controllers and actuators, is compromised by sophisticated malicious adversaries. To enhance security, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks with blockchain technologies are utilized instead of traditional communication patterns to transmit measurement and control signals. Unlike previous work, this work carefully designs an optimal blockchain consensus policy by perceiving the performance of NCSs and develops a resilient dynamic output tracking controller based on this policy. The formulation of the consensus policy is derived from a game-theoretic framework that models the interaction between the blockchain and the malicious adversary, enabling deep integration of blockchain technology with NCSs. With the proposed approach, the adverse effects of malicious FDI attacks can be greatly mitigated by balancing energy consumption and tracking performance. Finally, the applicability of the proposed security control strategy is verified in a real-world power system.