Secure Implementation of Distributed Control for Multiple Spacecraft Against Malicious Eavesdropping Attacks

This paper addresses the secure distributed control problem of spacecraft formation flying systems, which are susceptible to malicious eavesdropping attacks from hostile adversaries. A novel secure implementation framework of distributed control is proposed. Firstly, the uniform quantizer is decomposed, and an encoder is developed to convert system states and intermediate control parameters into integers. Then, the sensitive system states are pre-encrypted using the Paillier cryptosystem. Subsequently, an encrypted distributed control scheme is presented, incorporating the encoded and encrypted data. Notably, all data transmitted via the communication network are encrypted. Moreover, the encrypted distributed control law is directly evaluated using the received information from neighboring spacecraft, which maintains data security even when the controller devices are wiretapped. Following this secure implementation framework, the proposed encrypted distributed control law protects the data security of each spacecraft, while enabling effective control coordination. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed secure implementation framework. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.