Tree-Based Model Predictive Control for Jamming Attacks

Under the networked control paradigm, controllers, sensors, and actuators are different devices that communicate via a communication network. This might represent a source of vulnerability because the loss of data packets may endanger both system performance and stability. Therefore, this is a major concern in cybersecurity. For example, jamming attacks can be performed by malicious entities with the goal of disrupting the system. To deal with this issue, this paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC) scheme in which the controller computes a tree of control actions tailored to different packet loss patterns so that additional robustness can be gained in these situations. This work uses a case study to illustrate its advantages with respect to standard MPC alternatives.