Enclosing Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems under Denial-of-Service Attacks

Mahdi Baradarannia; Farzad Hashemzadeh; Tufan Kumbasar

doi:10.1109/JAS.2026.126161

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica

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M. baradarannia, F. Hashemzadeh, and T. Kumbasar, “Enclosing formation control of multi-agent systems under denial-of-service attacks,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, early access, 2026. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2026.126161

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M. baradarannia, F. Hashemzadeh, and T. Kumbasar, “Enclosing formation control of multi-agent systems under denial-of-service attacks,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, early access, 2026. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2026.126161

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Enclosing Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems under Denial-of-Service Attacks

doi: 10.1109/JAS.2026.126161

Funds: This work was supported by the 2221 program of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİITAK)

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Author Bio:
Mahdi Baradarannia received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in control engineering from the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Iran, in 2005, 2007, and 2012, respectively. In 2012, he joined the University of Tabriz, and currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. His research interests include cooperative and multi-agent systems, robotics, nonlinear and optimal control, and cybersecurity in networked control systems

Farzad Hashemzadeh received his B.Sc. degree in biomedical engineering from the Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran, in 2003, his M.Sc. degree in control engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, in 2006, and his Ph.D. degree in control engineering from the University of Tabriz, Iran, in 2012. In 2012, he joined the University of Tabriz, and currently, he is an Associate Professor at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. His current research interests include teleoperation, network control, multi-agent systems, and switching control

Tufan Kumbasar (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in control and automation engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey, in 2006, 2008, and 2012, respectively. He is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and serves as the Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems (AI²S) Laboratory, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, ITU, Turkey. His major research interests are in computational intelligence and intelligent systems. He is also interested in robotics, machine learning, intelligent control, and their real-world applications. He has served as a General Co-Chair, Keynote Chair, Publication Co-Chair, and Panel Session Co-Chair in various conferences. Dr. Kumbasar is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Advances in Computational Intelligence, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, and an Area Editor for the International Journal of Approximate Reasoning. Dr. Kumbasar received the Best Paper Awards from the IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems in 2015, and from the 6th International Conference on Control Engineering and Information Technology in 2018, as well as the Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference of Image Processing, Wavelet and Applications on Real World Problems in 2025. He is the recipient of the ODTÜ Mustafa N. Parlar Research and Education Foundation Research Incentive Award in 2020, the Turkish Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Scientists Award in 2021, the Istanbul Technical University Young Scientists Achievement Award in 2022, the IEEE Turkey Research Incentive Award in 2022, and the Science Academy Young Scientist Award in 2023
Corresponding author: Mahdi Baradarannia, e-mail: mbaradaran@tabrizu.ac.ir
Received Date: 2026-02-24
Accepted Date: 2026-04-28

Available Online: 2026-08-11

Abstract

Abstract

Multi-Agent System (MAS) operation relies on networked communication, making it vulnerable to cyber-attacks. While much research has focused on how MASs reach consensus when they are under cyber threats, this paper is the first to address the enclosing formation problem with the same geometry as targets for a peer-to-peer communicating MAS in the presence of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. First, a distributed practical finite-time estimator is proposed that enables followers to estimate the geometric center of target agents despite communication disruptions due to DoS attacks. Using Lyapunov functional analysis, it has been shown that the estimation error converges to a bounded region within a finite time. Building on this estimator, a control strategy is developed that ensures the system remains input-to-state stable even in the presence of DoS attacks. To facilitate control gain tuning, a parameter is introduced, providing a systematic approach for determining the controller gains. The approach is supported by rigorous theoretical analysis. To validate its effectiveness, a multi-agent surveillance scenario is simulated in which the communications between followers and targets experience aperiodic disruptions due to DoS attacks. The system shows robust performance during both attack and normal intervals, demonstrating its effectiveness in maintaining an enclosing formation under adversarial conditions.
- Denial-of-Service attack,
- enclosing formation,
- multi-agent systems,
- targets’ center estimation

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