Distributed watermarking for secure control of microgrids under replay attacks

The problem of replay attacks in the communication network between Distributed Generation Units (DGUs) of a DC microgrid is examined. The DGUs are regulated through a hierarchical control architecture, and are networked to achieve secondary control objectives. Following analysis of the detectability of replay attacks by a distributed monitoring scheme previously proposed, the need for a watermarking signal is identified. Hence, conditions are given on the watermark in order to guarantee detection of replay attacks, and such a signal is designed. Simulations are then presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.The final publication is available at sciencedirect.com via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.12.032. A. J. Gallo, M. S. Turan, F. Boem, G. Ferrari-Trecate, and T. Parisini, Distributed watermarking for secure control of microgrids under replay attacks, IFAC-PapersOnLine, Volume 51, Issue 23, 2018, Pages 182-187