Actuator Cyberattack Handling Using Lyapunov-based Economic Model Predictive Control

Abstract

Cybersecurity has gained increasing interest as a consequence of the potential impacts of cyberattacks on profits and safety. While attacks can affect various components of a plant, prior work from our group has focused on the impact of cyberattacks on control components such as process sensors and actuators and the development of detection strategies for cybersecurity derived from control theory. In this work, we provide greater focus on actuator attacks; specifically, we extend a detection and control strategy previously applied for sensor attacks and based on an optimization-based control technique called Lyapunov-based economic model predictive control (LEMPC) to detect attacks impacting the control action applied by the actuators when the state measurements provided to the controller are accurate. Closed-loop stability guarantees are rigorously derived. A continuous stirred tank reactor is simulated to elucidate aspects of the detection strategy proposed.