Notional examples and benchmark aspects of a resilient control system

Digital control system technology has pervaded most industries, leading to improvements in the efficiency and reliability of the associated operations. However, the ease of distributing and connecting related control systems for the purposes of increasing performance has resulted in interdependencies that can lead to unexpected conditions. Even with less complex designs, operators and engineers alike are often left with competing goals that are difficult to resolve. A fundamental reason for this dichotomy is that responsibilities lie with different disciplines, and operations are hosted on separate control systems. In addition, with the rising awareness of cyber security and diverse human interactions with control systems, an understanding of human actions from a malicious and benevolent standpoint is necessary. Resilience considers the multiple facets of requirements that drive the performance of control systems in a holistic fashion, whether they are security or stability, stability or efficiency, human interactions or complex interdependencies. As will be shown by example, current research philosophies lack the depth or the focus on the control system application to satisfy these requirements, such as graceful degradation of hierarchical control while under cyber attack. A resilient control system promises to purposefully consider these diverse requirements, developing an adaptive capacity to complex events that can lead to failure of traditional control system designs.