Distributed resilient secondary control for DC microgrids against heterogeneous communication delays and DoS attacks

• Main Author: Yue, Joe
• Other Authors: Wen Changyun
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Engineering; Microgrids
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/176510
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This project report presents an innovative study on enhancing the resilience and efficiency of islanded DC microgrids under cyber-physical threats, specifically focusing on Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks and heterogeneous communication delays. The motivation behind this study stems from the critical role that DC microgrids play in ensuring a reliable and efficient power supply in remote or isolated areas, coupled with the increasing cyber threats that jeopardize their operation. The report introduces a cooperative resilient control method that aims to mitigate the adverse effects of communication delays and DoS attacks, ensuring stable and efficient operation. A vital part of the proposed solution is a novel time-varying sampling period and an improved communication mechanism designed under the sampling control framework. This approach not only enhances the resilience of the DC microgrid against cyber-physical threats but also prevents intelligent attackers from capturing the sampling period, thus maintaining the stability of the microgrid's communication network. A resilient secondary controller is designed and integrated into the system, theoretically proven to achieve bus voltage restoration and optimal current sharing, even in the presence of DoS attacks and heterogeneous communication delays. The efficacy of the developed method is validated through a controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) testing platform, simulating a DC microgrid test system. Experimental results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed control strategy against both communication delays and DoS attacks, highlighting significant improvements in the stability and reliability of the microgrid's operation. Furthermore, the report discusses the implications of these findings for future research directions, emphasizing the potential of distributed control strategies in strenghtening DC microgrids against emerging cyber-physical challenges. In conclusion, this project report contributes to the ongoing efforts in advancing DC microgrid technologies by addressing critical vulnerabilities related to cyber-physical security threats. The proposed cooperative resilient control method not only ensures the stable and efficient operation of DC microgrids under adverse conditions but also sets a foundation for future innovations in microgrid protection and cyber-resilience. This abstract synthesizes the objectives, methodology, key findings, and contributions of my project, providing a coherent overview.