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A.J. Gallo

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High penetration of wind energy is pushing wind farms (WFs) to offer grid support capabilities, such as active power tracking. One of the main challenges in active power tracking for WFs is the interaction of wind turbines (WTs) through their wakes. This reduces the available wind in downstream WTs, leading them to saturation, while also affecting structural loading. With the increasing number of WTs in individual WFs, the computational and communication complexity of implementing centralized control architectures grows, posing challenges for real-world applications. In this article, we present a novel distributed control approach for active power tracking for WFs, namely multirate consensus-based distributed control (MCDC). The MCDC is designed to ensure that tracking errors caused by WT saturation are equally compensated throughout the WF, while only requiring local information exchanges between WTs. Furthermore, the proposed controller ensures that WT aerodynamic loading is balanced across the WF in a distributed manner. Finally, the overall power reference is distributed via a leader–follower consensus algorithm, resulting in a fully distributed approach. Our control approach facilitates the WF modularity and sparsity, which reduces the costs associated with control design and its applicability. Throughout this article, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MCDC through high-fidelity simulations, presenting performance comparable to the centralized control. ...
Conference paper (2025) - I. van Straalen, A.J. Gallo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari, M. Mazo
We propose a novel cyber-attack detection scheme for control schemes regulated via Stochastic Event-Triggered Control, to detect packets that are maliciously injected by an adversary. The diagnosis scheme relies on assessing whether the arrival time of the information packets received from the controller are compatible with the nominal probability distribution of triggering, or whether they are anomalous. To contrast the threat of an eavesdropping adversary capable of estimating the nominal triggering distribution, we propose a switching scheme, whereby the probability of triggering is drawn among a set of stochastic triggering mechanisms, which is such that the reconstruction of the communication pattern by an eavesdropper becomes computationally infeasible. We design the set of stochastic triggering mechanisms via the solution of an optimization problem, which embeds an explicit trade-off between the properties of the nominal Stochastic Event-Triggered Controller and the detection scheme. The results are illustrated through a numerical example. ...
Journal article (2025) - Tushar Desai, Alexander J. Gallo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari
Developing accurate models for batteries, capturing ageing effects and nonlinear behaviors, is critical for the development of efficient and effective performance. Due to the inherent difficulties in developing physics-based models, data-driven techniques have been gaining popularity. However, most machine learning methods are black boxes, lacking interpretability and requiring large amounts of labeled data. In this paper, we propose a physics-informed encoder–decoder model that learns from unlabeled data to separate slow-changing battery states, such as state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH), from fast transient responses, thereby increasing interpretability compared to conventional methods. By integrating physics-informed loss functions and modified architectures, we map the encoder output to quantifiable battery states, without needing explicit SOC and SOH labels. Our proposed approach is validated on a lithium-ion battery ageing dataset capturing dynamic discharge profiles that aim to mimic electric vehicle driving profiles. The model is trained and validated on sparse intermittent cycles (6 %–7 % of all cycles), accurately estimating SOC and SOH while providing accurate multistep ahead voltage predictions across single and multiple-cell based training scenarios. ...
Journal article (2025) - Hanieh Tabatabaei, Alexander J. Gallo, Ahmad W. Al-Dabbagh
In this paper, we address the problem of secure estimation in networked systems, by focusing on false data injection attacks in large-scale systems, where malicious attackers alter the original transmitted data between subsystems. We propose a technique that ensures asymptotic secure estimation of the original transmitted data under two attack classes, termed stealthy and non-stealthy, while also providing detection and isolation capabilities. We give conditions under which asymptotic recovery of nominal performance is guaranteed, thus providing the large-scale system with resilience. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique through a simulation-based case study. ...

A Geometric Approach With Application to Privacy

Journal article (2025) - Guitao Yang, Alexander J. Gallo, Angelo Barboni, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari, Andrea Serrani, Thomas Parisini
This paper examines the properties of output-redundant systems, that is, systems possessing a larger number of outputs than inputs, through the lense of the geometric approach of Wonham et al. We begin by formulating a simple output allocation synthesis problem, which involves “concealing” input information from a malicious eavesdropper having access to the system output, while still allowing for a legitimate user to reconstruct it. It is shown that the solvability of this problem requires the availability of a redundant set of outputs. This very problem is instrumental to unveiling the fundamental geometric properties of output-redundant systems, which form the basis for our subsequent constructions and results. As a direct application, we demonstrate how output allocation can be employed to effectively protect the input information from certain output eavesdroppers with guaranteed results. ...
Journal article (2025) - Bart Wolleswinkel, Ivo van Straalen, Luca Ballotta, Alexander J. Gallo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari
Over-actuated systems, namely systems with more inputs than outputs, can increase control performance, yet are susceptible to model-based undetectable attacks if the actuator channel is compromised. In this paper, we show how implementing a sparse actuator schedule can introduce security by rendering these attacks ineffective. We formulate a novel methodology whereby a periodic sparse schedule, implemented at the actuators, secures the system by ensuring that a malicious adversary cannot exploit actuator redundancy to deploy undetectable attacks. The schedule is designed offline and repeats periodically at the actuators, so that the adversary is constrained to only tamper with the active actuators. We devise a degeneracyaware greedy selection procedure with low computational complexity to design an actuator schedule that renders undetectable attacks ineffective, whilst simultaneously providing relatively small performance degradation. We illustrate the effectiveness of our approach using a reference tracking model predictive controller on the IEEE-39 bus power network employing the designed sparse schedule. ...
Conference paper (2024) - S. P. Mulders, A. J. Gallo, M. A. Rotea
Wind turbines degrade over time, resulting in varying structural, aeroelastic, and aerodynamic properties. In contrast, the turbine controller calibrations generally remain constant, leading to suboptimal performance and potential stability issues. The calibration of wind turbine controller parameters is therefore of high interest. To this end, several adaptive control schemes based on extremum seeking control (ESC) have been proposed in the literature. These schemes have been successfully employed to maximize turbine power capture by optimization of the Kω2-type torque controller. In practice, ESC is performed using electrical generator power, which is easily obtained. This paper analyses the feasibility of torque gain optimization using aerodynamic and generator powers. It is shown that, unlike aerodynamic power, using the generator power objective limits the dither frequency to lower values, reducing the convergence rate unless the phase of the demodulation ESC signal is properly adjusted. A frequency-domain analysis of both systems shows distinct phase behavior, impacting ESC performance. A solution is proposed by constructing an objective measure based on an estimate of the aerodynamic power. ...
Multiplicative watermarking (MWM) is an active diagnosis technique for the detection of highly sophisticated attacks, but is vulnerable to malicious agents that use eaves-dropped data to identify and then remove or replicate the watermark. In this work, we propose a scheme to protect the parameters of MWM, by proposing a design strategy based on piecewise affine (PWA) hybrid dynamical systems, called hybrid multiplicative watermarking (HMWM). Due to the design decision to make certain states of the HMWM systems unobservable, we show that parameter reconstruction by an eavesdropper is infeasible, from both a computational and a system-theoretic perspective, while not altering the system's closed-loop performance. ...
The current trend in the evolution of wind turbines is to increase their rotor size in order to capture more power. This leads to taller, slender and more flexible towers, which thus experience higher dynamical loads due to the turbine rotation and environmental factors. It is hence compelling to deploy advanced control methods that can dynamically counteract such loads, especially at tower positions that are more prone to develop cracks or corrosion damages. Still, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, little to no attention has been paid in the literature to load mitigation at multiple tower locations. Furthermore, there is a need for control schemes that can balance load reduction with optimization of power production. In this paper, we develop an Economic Model Predictive Control (eMPC) framework to address such needs. First, we develop a linear modal model to account for the tower flexural dynamics. Then we incorporate it into an eMPC framework, where the dynamics of the turbine rotation are expressed in energy terms. This allows us to obtain a convex formulation, that is computationally attractive. Our control law is designed to avoid the "turn-pike" behavior and guarantee recursive feasibility. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller on a 5MW reference WT model: the results illustrate that the proposed controller is able to reduce the tower loads at multiple locations, without significant effects to the generated power. ...
Journal article (2022) - Alexander J. Gallo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari
In this paper we present a novel switching function for multiplicative watermarking systems. The switching function is based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. The resulting function allows for both watermarking generator and remover to define appropriate system parameters, sharing only limited information, namely a private key. We prove that the resulting watermarking parameters lead to a stable watermarking scheme. ...
Journal article (2022) - Jie Chen, Alexander J. Gallo, Shuo Yan, Thomas Parisini, Shu Yuen Ron Hui
With increasing installations of grid-connected power electronic converters in the distribution network, there is a new trend of using distributed control in a cyber layer to coordinate the operations of these power converters for improving power system stability. However, cyber-attacks remain a threat to such distributed control. This paper addresses the cyber-attack detection and a countermeasure of distributed electric springs (ESs) that have emerged as a fast demand-response technology. A fully distributed model-based architecture for cyber-attack detection in the communication network is developed. Based on a dynamic model of ES with consensus control, a local state estimator is proposed and practically implemented to monitor the system. The estimator is fully distributed because only local and neighboring information is necessary. A countermeasure for the distributed ESs to ride through the cyber-attack and maintain regulatory services in a microgrid is demonstrated successfully. Experimental results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed cyber-attack detection method and its ride-through capability. ...
Conference paper (2022) - T. Keijzer, A.J. Gallo, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari
In this paper we present a hierarchical scheme to detect cyber-attacks in a hierarchical control architecture for large-scale interconnected systems (LSS). We consider the LSS as a network of physically coupled subsystems, equipped with a two-layer controller: on the local level, decentralized controllers guarantee overall stability and reference tracking; on the supervisory level, a centralized coordinator sets references for the local regulators. We present a scheme to detect attacks that occur at the local level, with malicious agents capable of affecting the local control. The detection scheme is computed at the supervisory level, requiring only limited exchange of data and model knowledge. We offer detailed theoretical analysis of the proposed scheme, highlighting its detection properties in terms of robustness, detectability and stealthiness conditions. ...
Conference paper (2021) - Alexander J. Gallo, Francesca Boem, Thomas Parisini
This work addresses the problem of cyber-attack isolation within a distributed diagnosis architecture for large-scale interconnected systems. Considering a distributed control architecture, malicious agents are capable of compromising the data exchanged between distributed controllers. Building on a distributed detection strategy existent in literature, in this paper we propose a distributed isolation algorithm to identify the attacked communication link. After presenting the isolation algorithm, we give a necessary and a sufficient condition for isolation to occur, relating to the structure of the physical interconnection matrices. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique through numerical simulations. ...
Conference paper (2021) - A.J. Gallo, S.C. Anand, Andre M. H. Teixeira, Riccardo M.G. Ferrari
This paper addresses the design of an active cyberattack detection architecture based on multiplicative watermarking, allowing for detection of covert attacks. We propose an optimal design problem, relying on the so-called output-to-output ℓ 2 -gain, which characterizes the maximum gain between the residual output of a detection scheme and some performance output. Although optimal, this control problem is non-convex. Hence, we propose an algorithm to design the watermarking filters by solving the problem suboptimally via LMIs. We show that, against covert attacks, the output-to-output ℓ 2 -gain is unbounded without watermarking, and we provide a sufficient condition for boundedness in the presence of watermarks. ...