NSF/ENG/ECCS-BSF: Collaborative Research: Foundations of secure multi-agent networked systems

这个研究项目的目标是开发一个新的框架，用于设计安全的多代理系统，以及分析这些系统所需的工具。控制理论、计算和通信领域的快速创新正引领着一种新型网络系统的发展，其特征是它们的复杂互连、组件的多样性以及与物理世界的相互作用。然而，从环境、经济和社会的角度来看，这些网络系统的潜在好处受到保护它们的能力的限制。目前正在进行许多努力，通过开发安全通信协议和程序来解决潜在的安全问题。pi在这里采取了不同的观点：他们不是开发保护现有系统的方法，而是开发设计固有安全性并嵌入漏洞检测机制的系统的方法。因此，pi将软件工程中流行的设计安全哲学扩展到网络动态系统的设计中。在应用方面，拟议的研究计划将显著推进网络物理系统安全设计的前沿，进一步推动其在许多领域的应用，包括交通网络、发电和配电网络、水和天然气分配网络等关键基础设施。pi还将开发新的互动模块，重点关注高中学生的CPS安全问题，并指导研究生和本科生，从而为教育外展做出贡献。所提出的方案建立在三个总体原则之上：(i)控制给予代理的信息，（ii）将隐藏的安全措施嵌入代理，以及（iii）使动态具有鲁棒性和弹性。更具体地说，对于第一个原则，pi建议用新颖的设计方法建立一个理论框架，该框架可以为代理定位和编码信息和目标。对于第二个原则，pi建议在网络系统中嵌入安全措施，以方便地检测对大信号的篡改及其对代理的影响。这些安全措施可以是某些函数，这些函数被设计为随时间保持不变的值，并且可以由代理在本地计算。对于第三个原则，pi建议利用鲁棒控制理论来处理小的攻击注入，并且引入了一种新的可控性概念，具有对状态攻击恢复的可证明保证。就智力价值而言，该计划将统一和利用数学研究，即将动力系统、完全可积系统和哈密顿动力学的对称性研究与工程工具相结合，以开发检测和挫败对系统攻击的方法。因此，它将在数学，特别是几何和动力系统，以及网络物理系统的研究之间建立新的和深化现有的联系。该项目将与以色列海法以色列理工学院的Daniel Zelazo教授合作进行。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this research project is to develop a new framework for the design of secure multi-agent systems along with the tools necessary for their analysis. The rapid pace of innovation in the areas of control theory, computation, and communication is leading the way for a new class of networked systems characterized by their complex interconnections, diversity of components, and interactions with the physical world. The potential benefits of these networked systems from environmental, economic, and social perspectives are however limited by the ability to secure them. There are currently many efforts under way to address the underlying security issues by ways of developing secure communication protocols and procedures. The PIs take a different point of view here: instead of developing methods to secure existing systems, they develop methods to design systems that are inherently secure and embedded with breach detection mechanisms. The PIs thus expand the secure-by-design philosophy popular in software engineering to the design of networked dynamical systems. In terms of applications, the proposed research program will significantly push forward the frontiers of secure design of cyber-physical systems, furthering their use across many domains including critical infrastructures such as transportation networks, power generation and distribution networks, water and gas distribution networks. The PIs will also contribute to educational outreach by developing new interactive modules, focusing on security issues of CPS for high school students, and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students.The proposed program is built upon three overarching principles: (i) control the information given to the agents, (ii) embed the agents with hidden security measures, and (iii) make the dynamics robust and resilient. More specifically, for the first principle, the PIs propose to establish a theoretical framework with novel design methodologies that can localize and encode both information and objectives for the agents. For the second principle, the PIs propose to embed the networked system with security measures that allow to detect easily tampering with large signals and its effect on the agents. These security measures can be certain functions that are designed to maintain invariant values over time and are locally computable by the agents. For the third principle, the PIs propose to leverage robust control theory for dealing with small attack injections, and moreover, introduce a novel controllability notion with provable guarantees on state attack recovery. In terms of intellectual merit, the proposed program will unify and exploit research in mathematics, namely integrating the study of symmetries in dynamical systems, completely integrable systems, and Hamiltonian dynamics, with engineering tools to develop methods to detect and foil attacks on a system. As such, it will establish new and deepen existing connections between mathematics, especially geometry and dynamical systems, and the study of cyber-physical systems. The project will be carried out in collaboration with Professor Daniel Zelazo of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.