Secure Consensus Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Against Hybrid Attacks: Bit Rate Constraint

This paper solves the secure consensus problem of multi-agent systems (MASs) that suffer from hybrid attacks, including denial-of-service (DoS) and replay attacks. Unlike most existing results, which assume simultaneous attacks across the entire network, this paper considers a complex edge-based hybrid attack scenario. At the same time, the problem of the limited communication bandwidth is described by the constrained bit rates from an essential perspective. The challenge lies in the data exchange among neighbors under the hybrid attack. To tackle this, a local observer is constructed to estimate/predict the overall state information. An observer-based secure consensus controller is established with sufficient conditions so that the consensus error system is ultimately exponentially bound. Furthermore, an optimal edge-based bit rate allocation strategy is proposed by solving an optimization problem through the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Eventually, the numerical and spacecraft formation simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the developed control strategy under edge-based hybrid attacks and bit rate constraints.