Title: Characterising failures and attacks in average consensus

Authors: Gabriele Oliva; Stefano Panzieri; Attilio Priolo; Giovanni Ulivi

Addresses: Complex Systems and Security Laboratory, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, Via A. del Portillo 21, 00128 Roma, Italy ' Department of Engineering, University Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146, Rome, Italy ' Department of Engineering, University Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146, Rome, Italy ' Department of Engineering, University Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 79, 00146, Rome, Italy

Abstract: Consensus algorithms turned out to be effective methodologies in all those situations involving a distributed merging of information such as the collaborative estimation performed by a set of agents. This method, however, is not able to cope with node disruptions, and requires the agents to continue to communicate until an agreement is reached. In some cases, such an assumption may not be verified, e.g., due to the disruption of some nodes. Moreover, the unwanted presence of some additional nodes may compromise the estimate. In this paper, the effect of removing nodes during the consensus protocol with respect to the time instant of disconnection is addressed. Moreover, the case of spurious or malicious nodes connected to the network with the aim to interfere with the consensus is also considered. Simulations to corroborate the theoretical findings are provided.

Keywords: average consensus; distributed systems; node failures; node attacks; node disruptions; node removal; spurious nodes; malicious nodes; networks; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCC.2014.062798

International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications, 2014 Vol.6 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Received: 21 May 2013
Accepted: 02 Jul 2013
Published online: 26 Jul 2014 *

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