A Verifiable Computing Scheme for Encrypted Control Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, real-time verifiable computing scheme for encrypted control systems, enabling validation of cloud-based control signals without sacrificing performance, demonstrated on a remote robot.

Contribution

It proposes a novel probabilistic verifiable computing scheme tailored for encrypted control systems, addressing the computational inefficiency of existing methods.

Findings

Effective validation of cloud-computed control signals demonstrated on a robot.

Scheme operates in real-time without degrading control performance.

Reduces computational overhead compared to traditional zero-knowledge proofs.

Abstract

The proliferation of cloud computing technologies has paved the way for deploying networked encrypted control systems, offering high performance, remote accessibility and privacy. However, in scenarios where the control algorithms run on third-party cloud service providers, the control logic might be changed by a malicious agent on the cloud. Consequently, it is imperative to verify the correctness of the control signals received from the cloud. Traditional verification methods, like zero-knowledge proof techniques, are computationally demanding in both proof generation and verification, may require several rounds of interactions between the prover and verifier and, consequently, are inapplicable in realtime control system applications. In this paper, we present a novel computationally inexpensive verifiable computing solution inspired by the probabilistic cut-and-choose approach. The proposed scheme allows the plant's actuator to validate the computations accomplished by the encrypted cloud-based networked controller without compromising the control scheme's performance. We showcase the effectiveness and real-time applicability of the proposed verifiable computation scheme using a remotely controlled Khepera IV differential-drive robot.