ECE Seminar Series: Game-Theoretic Methods for Cyber-Physical Control and Security of Distributed Microgrids
ECE Seminar Fall 2018
September 10, 1pm-2pm, ITE 336
Game-Theoretic Methods for Cyber-Physical Control and Security of Distributed Microgrids
Quanyan Zhu
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
New York University
Abstract: Game-theoretic methods have been widely used to model interactions of agents in complex systems. This talk aims to provide an overview of game-theoretic applications in the control and cybersecurity of microgrids. The first part of the talk introduces a non-cooperative game-theoretic power flow framework to develop distributed control of renewable-based microgrids. The solution concept of Nash equilibrium characterizes the outcome of distributed generation and plug-and-play integration with the power grid. The game-theoretic analysis leads to a fully distributed PMU-enabled algorithm which only needs local information of voltage angle at the bus. The talk also presents the Stackelberg equilibrium solution to capture the leader-and-follower relationships between the existing grid and the microgrids. The second part of the talk introduces game-theoretic models to understand the Stuxnet-type of threats on the power plants. A Bayesian dynamic game framework is first introduced to model the strategic interactions between an attacker and a defender under incomplete information. The attacker aims to achieve her objective stealthily through a combination of social engineering, lateral movement, and cyber-physical attacks. The defender aims to learn, detect, and mitigate the impact of the attack on the power plant and the consequential cascading failures. The talk will conclude with open questions and general discussions on game-theoretic frameworks for cyber-physical security and resilience.
Short bio: Quanyan Zhu received B. Eng. in Honors Electrical Engineering from McGill University in 2006, M.A.Sc. from University of Toronto in 2008, and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2013. After a short stint at Princeton University, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New York University (NYU) as an assistant professor in 2014. His research interest is game theory, smart grid, network security and privacy, resilient critical infrastructures, cyber-physical systems and cyber deception. He is a recipient of best paper awards at the International Conference on Information Fusion (Fusion 2015), ACM CCS Workshop on Managing Insider Security Threats (MIST 2015), and the International Symposium on Resilient Control Systems (ISRCS 2011). He spearheaded INFOCOM Workshop on Communications and Control on Smart Energy Systems (CCSES), Midwest Workshop on Control and Game Theory (WCGT) and New York Multidisciplinary Symposium on Security and Privacy. His current research has been funded by NSF, DOE, DHS, and DARPA.
Categories: Seminars
Published: September 5, 2018
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