Cyber-Resilient Load Frequency Control in Modern Interconnected Power Systems: A Systematic Literature Review of Intelligent and Secure Control Strategies

Abstract

Load Frequency Control (LFC) is very significant in the present situation. With that, one can be certain to maintain and manage power stability in relation to frequency changes while continuing reliable power traded over different tie-lines, which are all actually occurring in modern power systems. In addition, deregulated operation regimes are also implicated, holding stability with LFC systems by email threats like cyber security which occurred mostly during the process. This paper provides an excellent review from the literature on LFC methodologies not only of classical, robust, and optimization but intelligent and cyber-resilient control strategies as well. Further development focused on more modern approaches like model predictive control, sliding mode control, fractional-order control, and the development of observer-based techniques for increased robustness and rejection of disturbances in a complex multi-area system. Concomitantly, since then, conventional metaheuristic algorithms become most popular and are amongst the best for controllers optimized to be very transiently responsive and stable in the steady state. Recent research trends are towards such cyber-secure and resilient LFC designs which enable event-triggered or self-triggered control, distributed/decentralized framework, resilient observers, and new age methods like neural networks, fuzzy logic, or reinforcement learning based real-time attack detection and defense. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of 124 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026 on cyber-resilient LFC for interconnected power systems. The analysis shows that around 38% of the studies concentrate on resilient control strategies, while 29% focus on cyber-attack detection and mitigation techniques. Approximately 18% investigate intelligent optimization and artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions, whereas the remaining 15% explore secure communication frameworks, blockchain technologies, and distributed control architectures. The review also highlights a clear shift in recent research toward AI-enabled adaptive control, observer-based estimation, event-triggered communication, distributed control methods, and blockchain-supported secure LFC frameworks designed for renewable-rich smart grids.

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Novelty Statement

This study presents a comprehensive and systematic review of intelligent and cyber-resilient LFC strategies for modern interconnected power systems.