A Cyber-HIL for Investigating Control Systems in Ship Cyber Physical Systems under Communication Issues and Cyber Attacks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Cyber-HIL platform utilizing advanced simulation and emulation tools to evaluate and enhance the security of ship control systems against cyber attacks in real-time scenarios.

Contribution

It presents a novel Cyber-HIL platform integrating Docker, OPAL-RT, and ns3 for secure testing of ship control systems under cyber threats, including cyber attacks.

Findings

The platform effectively identifies vulnerabilities in ship control systems.

Real-time experiments demonstrate the platform's versatility in testing cyber attack scenarios.

The approach improves understanding of cyber attack impacts on ship CPS.

Abstract

This paper presents a novel Cyber-Hardware-in-the-Loop (Cyber-HIL) platform for assessing control operation in ship cyber-physical systems. The proposed platform employs cutting-edge technologies, including Docker containers, real-time simulator $OPAL-RT$, and network emulator $ns3$, to create a secure and controlled testing and deployment environment for investigating the potential impact of cyber attack threats on ship control systems. Real-time experiments were conducted using an advanced load-shedding controller as a control object in both synchronous and asynchronous manners, showcasing the platform's versatility and effectiveness in identifying vulnerabilities and improving overall Ship Cyber Physical System (SCPS) security. Furthermore, the performance of the load-shedding controller under cyber attacks was evaluated by conducting tests with man-in-the-middle (MITM) and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. These attacks were implemented on the communication channels between the controller and the simulated ship system, emulating real-world scenarios. The proposed Cyber-HIL platform provides a comprehensive and effective approach to test and validate the security of ship control systems in the face of cyber threats.