Observer-based synchronization control for complex networks against asynchronous attacks

Under the framework of cyber-physical systems (CPSs), this paper investigates the secure synchronization control problem of complex networks against asynchronous attacks. Different from the previous works that considered either connection attack on network connections or denial-of-service (DoS) attack in control (controller-to-actuator) channels, the asynchronous case of both types of attacks in complex networks is taken into account here. Besides, to overcome the difficulty that system states are not available for controllers, the pinning-nodes-based observer is designed to estimate all system states only using the measurements of pinning nodes rather than all ones. Such an observer is very realistic, especially for large-scale complex systems. By establishing a piecewise Lyapunov function, the secure synchronization criteria of complex networks under the considered asynchronous attacks are obtained. Finally, a numerical example and its simulations are exhibited to confirm the availability of the developed theoretical outcomes. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.