Distributed consensus control of nonlinear multiagent systems with actuator deception attacks

This paper delves into the distributed consensus control problem of nonlinear multiagent systems under the influence of actuator deception attacks based on a fixed directed topology. Diverging from the existing research, we develop a new actuator deception attack model, where attack signals are generated by an unmodeled system satisfying the input-to-state stable condition, and the unmodeled system utilizes the output consensus error of the agents and its delayed error information as the system input. In this condition, we put forward a novel distributed output feedback consensus control approach. First, we design the distributed controller with a compensator for the follower by the use of the relevant outputs of the agents, which is independent of the time delay and the states of the unmodeled system. Then, by constructing a new Lyapunov function with an adjustable power parameter, we can regulate the range of the functions describing the false data injected into the actuator. Additionally, through the combination of the exchange supply function method, we establish a strict proof that all agents can achieve exponential leader-following full-state consensus driven by the given controller. Finally, a simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed approach.