Sliding Mode Control for Robustness in Networked Switched Systems Under Denial-of-Service Attacks

Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks impose an important threat for networked switched systems, as they impede the effective transmission of the control signals and measurement data and disrupt the synchronization of the switching modes between the controllers and the plant. To address this challenge, this article proposes a sliding-mode controller design for safety against DoS attacks in networked switched systems. First, we analyze the impact of the time delays induced by signal quantization and DoS attacks on the switching signals, control laws, and measurement data. We then design an integral sliding surface associated with the switching modes such that, when system uncertainties, disturbances, and the frequency and duration of DoS attacks are suitably bounded, input-to-state practical stability is guaranteed. Moreover, a reaching law is designed such that the trajectories of the networked switched system reach the sliding surface in finite time. The practicality and applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated with numerical simulations on a networked continuous stirred tank reactor system.