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Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F: Electrical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (9 December 2022) | Viewed by 21371

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jan Koscielny

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Sw Andrzeja Boboli 8, PL-02-525 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: Automation; Technical diagnostics

Dr. Andrzej Ordys

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Sw Andrzeja Boboli 8, PL 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: modeling and simulation of power generation systems; control of cogeneration systems; hybrid systems; modeling simulation and control
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Dr. Michal Syfert

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Sw Andrzeja Boboli 8, PL-02-525 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: Fault diagnosis; Industral control system; Cyber security

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Guest Editor is inviting submissions to a Special Issue of Energies on the subject area of “Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems”.

In the modern world, very important is the production flexibility. To achieve this, more and more often intelligent networks connect processes, machines, products, suppliers and customers. This is a big challenge, because it is necessary to integrate the new technology into the existing infrastructure and, additionally, to ensure data security.

In industrial control systems this trend exhibits itself in using sensors and actuators connected with the controller via a wireless network. Furthermore, more emphasis is currently placed on the control algorithm itself being located on the computing cloud (Control as a Service—CaaS). Such solution, whilst providing undoubtful benefits in terms of cost, flexibility, ease of modifications and maintenance; also poses problems which need to be addressed, for instance: resilience of control actions, and security of information flow and information processing.

Whilst cybersecurity, traditionally, is considered the domain of Information Technologies (IT), similar problems are well known in the domain of Industrial Control Systems (Operational Technologies—OT)—namely the problems of detection and isolation of faults (FDI).

This special session focuses on the IT-OT convergence, which allows for efficient monitoring and regulation of industrial processes from the perspective of faults within the system (OT) but also cyber-attacks directed from outside (IT).

Topics of interest include:

Description and classification of cyber-attacks on industrial installations;
Test-beds and experiments to evaluate cyber-security;
Development of models of processes for simulation and detection of cyberattacks;
Integration of diagnostics and cyber-security systems;
Adaptation of algorithms of Fault Detection to detection of cyber-attacks;
Architectures of industrial control systems for secure data transmission;
Resilient signal processing and control systems;
Process performance monitoring;
Establishing criteria for resilience of control installations and case studies;
Integrated approach to risk assessment in Industrial Control Systems.

Prof. Dr. Jan Koscielny
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Ordys
Dr. Michal Syfert
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cybersecurity
anomaly (fault, attack) detection and isolation
industrial control systems
cloud computing
resilient control and estimation

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2592 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Stealthy Cyberattacks Detection Based on Control Performance Assessment Methods for the Air Conditioning Industrial Installation

by Jakub Filip Możaryn, Michał Frątczak, Krzysztof Stebel, Tomasz Kłopot, Witold Nocoń, Andrzej Ordys and Stepan Ozana

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031290 - 25 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1961

Abstract

This paper aims to study the workflow of the detection centre of stealthy attacks on industrial installations that generate an increase in energy consumption. Such long-lasting, undetected attacks on industrial facilities make production more expensive and less competitive or damage the installation in the long term. We present the concept of the remote detection system of cyberattacks directed at maliciously changing the controlled variable in an industrial process air conditioning system. The monitored signals are gathered at the PLC-controlled installation and sent to the remote detection system, where the discrepancies of signals are analysed based on the Control Performance Assessment indices. The results of performed tests prove the legitimacy of the adopted approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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11 pages, 5006 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Disturbance Detection in the Outlet Temperature of a Coal Dust–Air Mixture on the Basis of the Statistical Model

by Zofia M. Łabęda-Grudziak

Energies 2022, 15(19), 7302; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197302 - 4 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1806

Abstract

The reliability of a coal mill's operation is strongly connected with optimizing the combustion process. Monitoring the temperature of a dust–air mixture significantly increases the coal mill's operational efficiency and safety. Reliable and accurate information about disturbances can help with optimization actions. The article describes the application of an additive regression model and data mining techniques for the identification of the temperature model of a dust–air mixture at the outlet of a coal mill. This is a new approach to the problem of power unit modeling, which extends the possibilities of multivariate and nonlinear estimation by using the backfitting algorithm with flexible nonparametric smoothing techniques. The designed model was used to construct a disturbance detection system in the position of hot and cold air dampers. In order to achieve the robust properties of the detection systems, statistical measures of the differences between the real and modeled temperature signal of dust–air mixtures were used. The research has been conducted on the basis of the real measuring data registered in the Polish power unit with a capacity of 200 MW. The obtained high-quality model identification confirms the correctness of the presented method. The model is characterized by high sensitivity to any disturbances in the cold and hot air damper position. The results show that the suggested method improves the usability of the statistical modeling, which creates good prospects for future applications of additive models in the issues of diagnosing faults and cyber-attacks in power systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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27 pages, 7166 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hybrid Fault-Tolerant Control for Air-Fuel Ratio Control System of Internal Combustion Engine Using Fuzzy Logic and Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control Techniques

by Turki Alsuwian, Umar Riaz, Arslan Ahmed Amin, Muhammad Bilal Qadir, Saleh Almasabi and Mohammed Jalalah

Energies 2022, 15(19), 7010; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197010 - 24 Sep 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2271

Abstract

Safety and critical applications employ fault-tolerant control systems (FTCS) to increase reliability and availability in the event of a failure of critical components. Process facilities may employ these technologies to cut down on production losses caused by equipment failures that occur on an irregular or unscheduled basis. Air–fuel ratio (AFR) adjustment in the fuel system of internal combustion engines (ICE) is crucial for enhancing engine efficiency, saving fuel energy, and safeguarding the environment. This paper proposes a novel hybrid fault-tolerant control system (HFTCS) for controlling the AFR in ICEs that combines the features of both an active fault-tolerant control system (AFTCS) and a passive fault-tolerant control system (PFTCS). The fault detection and isolation (FDI) unit is designed using fuzzy logic (FL) as part of an AFTCS to give estimated sensor values to the engine controller when the sensor becomes faulty. Super-twisting sliding mode control (ST-SMC) is implemented as part of a PFTCS to maintain AFR by adjusting the throttle actuator in the fuel supply line under faulty conditions. Lyapunov stability analysis is also performed to make sure that the system remains stable in both normal and faulty conditions. According to the results in the Matlab/Simulink environment, the suggested system stays robust and stable during sensor faults. In faulty situations, it also maintains the AFR at 14.6 without any degradation, and a comparison with previous studies is carried out. The study shows that the suggested approach is an innovative and highly dependable solution for AFR control in ICEs, preventing engine shutdown and output loss for higher profitability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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24 pages, 1844 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrated Approach to Diagnostics of Failures and Cyber-Attacks in Industrial Control Systems

by Michał Syfert, Andrzej Ordys, Jan Maciej Kościelny, Paweł Wnuk, Jakub Możaryn and Krzysztof Kukiełka

Energies 2022, 15(17), 6212; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15176212 - 26 Aug 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2904

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the issue of the diagnostics of process faults and the detection of cyber-attacks in industrial control systems. This problem is of significant importance to energy production and distribution, which, being part of critical infrastructure, is usually equipped with process diagnostics and, at the same time, is often subject to cyber-attacks. A commonly used approach would be to separate the two types of anomalies. The detection of process faults would be handled by a control team, often with a help of dedicated diagnostic tools, whereas the detection of cyber-attacks would be handled by an information technology team. In this article, it is postulated here that the two can be usefully merged together into one, comprehensive, anomaly detection system. For this purpose, firstly, the main types of cyber-attacks and the main methods of detecting cyber-attacks are being reviewed. Subsequently, in the analogy to “process fault”—a term well established in process diagnostics—the term “cyber-fault” is introduced. Within this context a cyber-attack is considered as a vector containing a number of cyber-faults. Next, it is explained how methods used in process diagnostics for fault detection and isolation can be applied to the detection of cyber-attacks and, in some cases, also to isolation of the components of such attacks, i.e., cyber-faults. A laboratory stand and a simulator have been developed to test the proposed approach. Some test results are presented, demonstrating that, similarly to equipment/process faults, residua can be established and cyber-faults can be identified based on the mismatch between the real data from the system and the outputs of the simulation model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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23 pages, 6971 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of a Hybrid Fault-Tolerant Control System for Air–Fuel Ratio Control of Internal Combustion Engines Using Genetic Algorithm and Higher-Order Sliding Mode Control

by Turki Alsuwian, Muhammad Tayyeb, Arslan Ahmed Amin, Muhammad Bilal Qadir, Saleh Almasabi and Mohammed Jalalah

Energies 2022, 15(15), 5666; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155666 - 4 Aug 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2594

Abstract

Fault-tolerant control systems (FTCS) are used in safety and critical applications to improve reliability and availability for sustained operation in fault situations. These systems may be used in process facilities to reduce significant production losses caused by irregular and unplanned equipment tripping. Internal combustion (IC) engines are widely used in the process sector, and efficient air–fuel ratio (AFR) regulation in the fuel system of these engines is critical for increasing engine efficiency, conserving fuel energy, and protecting the environment. In this paper, a hybrid fault-tolerant control system has been proposed, being a combination of two parts which are known as an active fault-tolerant control system and a passive fault-tolerant control system. The active part has been designed by using the genetic algorithm-based fault detection and isolation unit. This genetic algorithm provides estimated values to an engine control unit in case of a fault in any sensor. The passive system is designed by using the higher-order sliding mode control with an extra fuel actuator in the fuel supply line. The performance of the system was tested experimentally in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Based on the simulation results, the designed system can sustain the AFR despite sensor failures. A new method of managing the AFR of an IC engine has been demonstrated in this study, and it is highly capable, robust, reliable, and highly effective. A comparison with the existing works found in the literature also proves its superior performance. By inserting the fault in each sensor, it was clearly observed that proposed HFTCS was much better than the existing model as it was more fault-tolerant due to its ability to work in both online and offline modes. It also provided an exact value of 14.6 of AFR without any degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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22 pages, 768 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diagnostic Column Reasoning Based on Multi-Valued Evaluation of Residuals and the Elementary Symptoms Sequence

by Jan Maciej Kościelny, Michał Syfert and Paweł Wnuk

Energies 2022, 15(7), 2614; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15072614 - 3 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2164

Abstract

The paper concerns a significant problem in the diagnostics of industrial processes, which is the need to achieve high fault distinguishability. High distinguishability results in the generation of precise diagnoses that enable making appropriate security decisions. In the known approaches, the efforts to obtain high distinguishability are focused on the selection of an appropriate set of generated residuals. The paper presents a new method of diagnostic reasoning using the notation of faults/diagnostic signals’ relations in the form of a Fault Isolation System (FIS), which enables the use of multivalent diagnostic signals. In addition, the proposed method uses knowledge (usually incomplete) about the sequence of symptoms. Reasoning was carried out on the basis of simple, physically possible signatures, resulting from the FIS. Assumptions and a diagnostic algorithm are given. The reasoning algorithm works in a step-by-step manner, after observing further symptoms. In each reasoning step, two diagnoses are generated in parallel. A more accurate, but less certain diagnosis is formulated on the basis of the value of all diagnostic signals, and the diagnosis is less accurate, but more reliable, solely on the basis of symptoms. An example of using the method for diagnosing a set of connected liquid tanks is given. The method was compared with other reasoning methods based on columns (signatures) and, also, with row-based reasoning methods. It is shown that the proposed method allows the increase of the distinguishability of faults compared to other methods. The distinguishability grows with the knowledge of elementary symptom sequences. It is also noted that the proposed approach makes possible diagnosing not only faults, but also cyber attacks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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23 pages, 991 KiB

Open AccessArticle

EE-ISAC—Practical Cybersecurity Solution for the Energy Sector

by Tania Wallis and Rafał Leszczyna

Energies 2022, 15(6), 2170; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15062170 - 16 Mar 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3901

Abstract

A recent survey of cybersecurity assessment methods proposed by the scientific community revealed that their practical adoption constitutes a great challenge. Further research that aimed at identifying the reasons for that situation demonstrated that several factors influence the applicability, including the documentation level of detail, the availability of supporting tools, and the continuity of support. This paper presents the European Energy Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (EE-ISAC)—a cybersecurity platform for the energy sector that has been adopted by multiple organisations. The platform facilitates sharing information about cybersecurity incidents, countermeasures, and assessment results. Prospectively, it is envisaged to be integrated with the threat intelligence platform that enables real-time situational awareness. By considering both fault and attack scenarios together, threat awareness can be mapped onto operational contexts to prioritise decisions and responses. This paper analyses EE-ISAC’s approach based on the conceptual applicability framework developed during the research, to improve the applicability and usefulness of this platform for energy sector participants and to identify areas that require further development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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20 pages, 2481 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Anomaly Detection in Cyclic Communication in OT Protocols

by Milosz Smolarczyk, Sebastian Plamowski, Jakub Pawluk and Krzysztof Szczypiorski

Energies 2022, 15(4), 1517; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15041517 - 18 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2513

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of using anomaly detection in cyclic communication as a method aimed at protecting industrial installations from steganographic communication and a wide range of cyberattacks. The analysis was performed for a method based on deterministic finite automaton and the authors’ method using cycles. In this paper, we discuss the cycle detection algorithm and graph construction as well as demonstrate an anomaly detection method for cyberattack detection that utilizes stochastic elements, such as time-to-response and time-between-messages. We present a novel algorithm that combines finite automaton determinism modeling consecutive admissible messages with a time-domain model allowing for random deviations of regularity. The study was conducted for several test scenarios, including C&C steganographic channels generated using the Modbus TCP/IP protocol. Experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the algorithms are presented for both methods. All algorithms described in this paper are implemented and run as part of a passive warden system embedded in a bigger commercial IDS (intrusion detection system). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diagnosis of Faults and Attacks in Industrial Control Systems for Energy Production and Distribution)

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