Abstract
Load frequency control (LFC) system may be destroyed by false data injection attacks (FDIAs) and consequently the security of the power system will be impacted. High-efficiency FDIA detection can reduce the damage and power loss to the power system. This paper defines various typical and hybrid FDIAs, and the influence of several FDIAs with different characteristics on the multi-area LFC system is analyzed. To detect various attacks, we introduce an improved data-driven method, which consists of fuzzy logic and neural networks. Fuzzy logic has the features of high applicability, robustness, and agility, which can make full use of samples. Further, we construct the LFC system on MATLAB/Simulink platform, and systematically simulate the experiments that FDIAs affect the LFC system by tampering with measurement data. Among them, considering the large-scale penetration of renewable energy with intermittency and volatility, we generate three simulation scenarios with or without renewable energy generation. Then, the performance for detecting FDIAs of the improved method is verified by simulation data samples.
WITH the speedy development of computation, communication, and control technology [
Cyber attacks may seriously affect the secure and steady operation of the power system by destroying important information on critical infrastructures [
In the past few years, research works on the impacts of FDIAs and the corresponding detection methods have received a lot of attention. In a wide range of FDIA detection solutions, two directions are mainly involved: model-based detection and data-driven detection. The former mainly contains estimation-based or residual-based methods. Reference [
As for data-driven detection method, it does not require a real physical model. Data-driven detection method relies on historical data to train statistical models, i.e., to find the relationship between the input features and the output variables, e.g., the types of FDIAs. However, a single method ordinarily has certain limitations. Specifically, the classic support vector machine (SVM) [
To detect the FDIAs accurately and quickly, this paper introduces an improved data-driven detection method, which is a combination of fuzzy logic and NNs, and has the characteristics of strong robustness, agility, and generalization ability. The performance of the method is verified by detecting various types of FDIAs on the dynamic simulation model of LFC with RE generation. The detailed contributions of this paper can be summarized as follows.
1) The model of multi-area LFC system with RE generation is set up. The two-area and four-area LFC systems are simulated based on MATLAB/Simulink platform in three scenarios, respectively. They are the LFC system without RE generation, the LFC system with RE generation in one area, and the LFC system with RE generation in each of the two areas.
2) The typical and hybrid FDIAs with various characteristics are defined, and the impacts of various FDIAs on two-area and four-area LFC systems in different simulation scenarios are simulated and analyzed.
3) An improved method is proposed, then the fault detection results through the improved method are compared with NNs, fuzzy pattern trees (FPTs), and LSTM, from which the performance of the improved method is proven.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II indicates the dynamic model of multi-area LFC system with RE generation. (Section III introduces an improved method for detecting FDIAs. Section IV defines the various typical and hybrid FDIAs.) In Section V, the impacts of different FDIAs on the two-area and four-area LFC systems are simulated based on MATLAB/Simulink platform, and the performance of the improved method for detecting FDIAs is evaluated. Section VI summarizes this paper and plans future works.

Fig. 1 Dynamic model of multi-area LFC system with RE generation.
In the multi-area LFC system, each generation unit in all the control areas can be simplified into an equivalent generation part. The ACE is defined as:
(1) |
where is the ACE of the
As for the uncertainty and intermittence of WT/PV power generation system, when the RE generation system is added to the LFC system, there are not only power constraints, but also power balance constraints, which can maintain the relative stability of load and power generation.
As illustrated in Figs.
(2) |

Fig. 2 Limits of RE generation system.
where is the state vector; is the control vector; is the output vector; , , , , and are the system matrices; is the droop factor; is the frequency deviation of the inverter in the area of RE generation system; ;;; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;;;;and .
In this section, an improved method for detecting FDIAs is proposed, which is based on data-driven method and composed of FNNs [
Fuzzy aggregation is a logical operator of fuzzy set or fuzzy membership value [
The WA operator of dimension is a map about , which has an related -element vector , , , and ; then, the WA is defined as:
(3) |
Similarly, the OWA is defined as:
(4) |
where returns the th largest element of the collection . Among them, the prime differentiation between WA and OWA operators is that the OWA has no special weight related to an element, while the weights are related to the specific ordered locations of the elements.
In short, it is straightforward to extend forenamed aggregation to fuzzy item: the consequence of the aggregation of two fuzzy items is a novel fuzzy item, and the aggregation is employed between the two fuzzy items in pairs.
FNN is the improved model based on fuzzy logic and NNs for detecting FDIAs in this paper. The frame of FNNs is shown in

Fig. 3 Frame of FNNs.
In the first layer, the neuron nodes of input layer are used to input samples. The data sets generated by different FDIAs on the multi-area LFC system are the input samples of FNNs, which include 10 features such as the ACE value, deviation values of measurement frequency, real frequency, attack frequency, power output, and mechanical output and load of the generator. The second layer is fuzzy input layer. It is applied to produce new fuzzy items that can fully mirror the features of input data. Then, the third layer is hidden layer. The connection of these hidden layers has the most important feature of FNNs. The neuron nodes of fuzzy input layer and hidden layer are connected with each other. Specifically, the information is transmitted from input layer to fuzzy input layer, and then to hidden layer and output layer (the last layer). Final output results are compared with the sample values to calculate the accuracy [
(5) |
where is the connection of neuron nodes of fuzzy input and hidden layer as the weight in the th iteration, indicates the number of fuzzy items obtained by fuzzy method, and and are the numbers of neuron nodes of input layer and those of fuzzy input layer, respectively. The formula of the output layer is:
(6) |
where is the output result after the th iteration; is the connection of neuron nodes of hidden layer and those of output layer as weight in the th iteration; and is the number of neuron nodes of output layer.
In order to make the network outputs as close as possible to the actual results, output errors can be fed back in the direction from the output layer to input layer. The gradient correction method [
(7) |
where is the actual sample value. The equations of correction weights in the iteration are:
(8) |
(9) |
Let denote the learning rate, we can obtain:
(10) |
(11) |
Besides, the improved method includes a training phase and a testing phase. The data samples from FDIAs in multi-area LFC system are separated into training groups and testing groups. During the training phase of FNNs, in the fuzzy input layer, the features of input variables can be better extracted in unsupervised learning. Then, in the supervised learning, the regularization method [
As shown in the
Scaling attack can affect system rapidly and trigger the load shedding scheme. The scaling attack modifies measurement value by injecting scaling parameter to make it proportionally higher or lower than the actual value . We define the system equations as:
(12) |
(13) |
where is the running time of the dynamic system; is the scaling attack value; is the real value; and is the measurement value under scaling attack.
A ramp function changes with the time gradually at a constant rate. Ramp attack alters the measurement by adding , where is the factor of ramp attack and is the attack period. We can define the system of equations as:
(14) |
(15) |
where is the value of ramp attack; and is the measurement value under ramp attack.
Sine attack is a type of attack that changes the measurement value in cycles, causing it to oscillate continuously. During the attack, as the sine wave fluctuates, the measurements are periodically set to higher or lower values. We can define the system of equations as:
(16) |
(17) |
where is the sine attack value; and is the measurement value under sine attack.
Scaling-ramp attack (SRA) modifies the measurement value by simultaneously injecting the scaling and ramp attacks. Scaling-sine attack (SSA) tampers the measurement value by injecting the scaling and sine attacks at the same time. Ramp-sine attack (RSA) alters the measurement value by simultaneously infiltrating the ramp and sine attacks.
Typical and hybrid FDIAs are maliciously injected to the multi-area LFC system through and , which causes errors in the measurement values, leads the control center to make wrong decisions, and affects the safe and stable operations of CPS.
The experiments are implemented on a desktop computer with i7-9700 CPU at 3.00 GHz, 16 GB of RAM, 64-bit Windows. The base power of experiment system is 100 MW and the experimental simulations are based on per-unit data. The parameters of the two-area LFC system are illustrated in
The values of WT-PV power are obtained from the Elia Group. As shown in

Fig. 4 Output of WT-PV power generation system.
The value of WT power gradually increases over time, and reaches the maximum value at about the 8
In this subsection, the impacts of different typical FDIAs on the two-area LFC system will be analyzed. Area 1 and area 2 of the two-area LFC system are the same, and the simulation system is set up in three environments. The experiment is based on MATLAB/Simulink platform.

Fig. 5 Frequency deviations of two-area LFC system without WT-PV power generation under different attacks on area 1. (a) under normal circumstances. (b) under normal circumstances. (c) under a scaling attack on area 1. (d) under a scaling attack on area 1. (e) under a ramp attack on area 1. (f) under a ramp attack on area 1. (g) under a sine attack on area 1. (h) under a sine attack on area 1.
FDIAs can cause errors in the measurement values, which may lead to mistakes in control decisions and affect normal operations. As indicated in

Fig. 6 Frequency deviations of two-area LFC system with WT-PV power generation in area 1 under different attacks on area 1. (a) under normal circumstances. (b) under normal circumstances. (c) under a scaling attack on area 1. (d) under a scaling attack on area 1. (e) under a ramp attack on area 1. (f) under a ramp attack on area 1. (g) under a sine attack on area 1. (h) under a sine attack on area 1.

Fig. 7 Frequency deviations of two-area LFC system with WT-PV power generation in area 1 under different attacks on area 2. (a) under a scaling attack on area 2. (b) under a scaling attack on area 2. (c) under a ramp attack on area 2. (d) under a ramp attack on area 2. (e) under a sine attack on area 2. (f) under a sine attack on area 2.
When the ramp attack is injected into area 2, it has a slope of 0.005 and an upper limit of 0.025, as displayed in

Fig. 8 Frequency deviations of two-area LFC system with WT-PV power generation in each of two areas under different attacks on area 1. (a) under normal circumstances. (b) under normal circumstances. (c) under a scaling attack on area 1. (d) under a scaling attack on area 1. (e) under a ramp attack on area 1. (f) under a ramp attack on area 1. (g) under a sine attack on area 1. (h) under a sine attack on area 1.
By analyzing the impacts of various attacks on the frequency deviations from different situations, we can draw the following conclusions. Firstly, different kinds of attacks have different effects on the two-area LFC system. Under a slight attack, the system resumes stable operation after a period of fluctuation. However, under a severe attack, excessive frequency oscillations may cause irreversible and dangerous operation trend of the system. Secondly, the WT-PV power generation system affects the dynamic characteristics of the LFC system. In addition, if the WT-PV power generation system with appropriate capacity is added to one area, the other area will not be affected. Thirdly, the two areas influence each other. Under a slight attack, one area returns to stable state after slight fluctuation, the other area is not affected. Under a severe attack, one area cannot reach its original state, and the other area cannot reach its stable state.
In order to verify the feasibility of the modified method, the accuracy of three methods for detecting various FDIAs are compared in this subsection. Firstly, the two-area LFC system is constructed on MATLAB/Simulink. Secondly, 24 groups of faults are simulated in the dynamic system. Specifically, typical FDIAs containing scaling attack, ramp attack, sine attack, and hybrid FDIAs including CRAs, SRAs, SSAs, and RSAs are injected in different environments. As shown in
The indexes contain recall (Reca), precision (Prec), and -score, which are based on the confusion matrix. Moreover, the average (Avg) of the values obtained by these three indexes is also calculated. These three indexes are derived from the calculation of true positive (TP), false positive (FP), false negative (FN), and true negative (TN) [
(18) |
(19) |
(20) |
where is the overall effectiveness of the diagnostic method; is the ability of the diagnostic method to identify positive classes; is the overall index result of and ; TP is the proportion of actual faulty cases that are classified as faulty operating condition; TN is proportion of actual normal cases that are classified as normal operating condition; FP is to the proportion of actual faulty cases that are classified as normal operating situation; and FN is the proportion of actual normal cases that are classified as faulty operating situation
The parameter setting of the FNN training is described in
As illustrated in Tables
Under the hybrid FDIAs, from the horizontal perspective, the accuracy of FNNs for detecting all kinds of attacks is higher than 0.98, and especially under the , the accuracy reaches 1.00. From the vertical perspective, under most instances, the accuracy of FNNs for detecting attacks is higher than NNs, and the accuracy of NNs is lower than 0.98 in six cases. More obviously, the accuracy of FPTs is lower than FNNs under 11 instances, and the accuracy is only 0.37 under the . Moreover, the accuracy of LSTM networks is higher than FNNs in only one case. In addition, the accuracy of detecting hybrid FDIAs is mostly higher than that of detecting typical FDIAs. Because a hybrid attack is composed of two typical FDIAs at the same time, different types of FDIAs have different characteristics. When multiple typical FDIAs maliciously attack the LFC system at the same time, the damage to the LFC system is also superimposed. Therefore, the changing features of the LFC system under hybrid FDIAs are more easily captured than that under single typical FDIAs.
As shown in
To demonstrate the scalability of the proposed method, the accuracy of FNNs for detecting typical and hybrid FDIAs on the four-area LFC system is shown in Tables
This paper introduces an improved data-driven method, which is composed of fuzzy logic and NNs. Various types of typical and hybrid FDIAs are defined, including ramp attack, scaling attack, sine attack, SRA, SSA, and RSA. The dynamic model of the multi-area LFC system is set up, and then three simulation scenarios are constructed and developed in MATLAB/Simulink platform. They are LFC system without RE generation, LFC system with RE generation in one area, and LFC system with RE generation in each of two areas.
The impacts of different FDIAs on the two-area and four-area LFC systems under three circumstances are analyzed, and a large number of experimental samples with system change are obtained to verify the excellent performance of FNNs. The detection results illustrate higher and more steady accuracy for detecting various FDIAs by FNNs than those by NNs, FPTs, and LSTM networks under most conditions. And the computational cost of FNNs is obviously less than that of FPTs and LSTM networks, which shows the excellent performance of FNNs for detecting FDIAs on LFC system with RE generation. In addition, the accuracy of FNNs for detecting hybrid FDIAs is higher than that of single typical FDIAs, which means that when multiple typical FDIAs maliciously attack the LFC system at the same time, the damage to the LFC system is also superimposed, and the impact on the system is also more serious. Moreover, the improved method has a broad range of applications and relies on historical data to train statistical models and does not require real physical models, which decreases the issues due to “model-reality mismatch”.
Future work will consider semi-supervised learning, which can comprehensively use labeled and unlabeled data to generate suitable classification functions, and can detect unknown attacks. In addition, some unique attacks can also be studied such as stealthy attacks and time-delay attacks. Moreover, a more general test system can be simulated based on MATLAB/Simulink platform.
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