The Smart Grid is a large networked cyber-physical control system that is part of the critical infrastructure. This paper presents a cyber-physical attack against a substation where the attacker causes a transformer to overheat. The attack is modeled using a hybrid attack graph (HAG), which provides a means to model both the physical and cyber components of the attack. The HAG provides insight into potential attack vectors. Based on this information, key points in the system can be identified where security can be strengthened. Direction for future work to expand the capabilities of HAGs for modeling cyber-physical attacks is presented.

This paper describes the Passive Active RFID Tag (PART). The first innovation is an automated method to generate RFID tag controllers based on high-level descriptions of a customised set of RFID primitives. We are capable of targeting microprocessor-based or custom hardware-based controllers. The second innovation is a passive burst switch front-end to the active tag. This switch reduces power consumption by allowing the active transceiver and controller to sleep when no reader is querying the tag. When RF energy is supplied by the reader, the burst switch 'wakes-up' the tag to process the primitive. A prototype burst switch is demonstrated using a Real-Time Spectrum Analyser (RTSA) from our RFID Center for Excellence. We demonstrate the customised RFID tag controller with 40 primitives using a Xilinx Coolrunner-II requiring 1.29 mW and 50 µW of power when active and asleep, respectively. We also present a PIC-microcontroller and hardwarebased Nano Tag at 2.7µW.

While RFID is starting to become a ubiquitious technology, the variation between different RFID systems still remains high. This paper presents several prototyping environments for different components of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to demonstrate how many of these components can be standardized for many different purposes. We include two active tag prototypes, one based on a microprocessor and the second based on custom hardware. To program these devices we present a design automation flow that allows RFID transactions to be described in terms of primitives with behavior written in ANSI C code. To save power with active RFID devices we describe a passive transceiver switch called the "burst switch" and demonstrate how this can be used in a system with a microprocessor or custom hardware controller. Finally, we present a full RFID system prototyping environment based on real-time spectrum analysis technology currently deployed at the University of Pittsburgh RFID Center of Excellence. Using our prototyping techniques we show how transactions from multiple standards can be combined and targeted to several microprocessors include the Microchip PIC, Intel StrongARM and XScale, and AD Chips EISC as well as several hardware targets including the Altera Apex, Actel Fusion, Xilinx Coolrunner II, Spartan 3 and Virtex 2, and cell-based ASICs.

Location of polyethylene utility pipes is improved by installing electromagnetic targets with the pipe. A new electromagnetic target could be created by impregnating polyethylene with conductive materials to impart it with electromagnetic properties necessary for use in utility location. Antennas created from this conductive polyethylene composite could be molded directly to the pipe during fabrication. The addition of high concentrations of conductive fillers into the material alters the mechanical performance of the material in addition to the electromagnetic properties, resulting in a material which displays brittle behavior, unlike neat polyethylene. Both electromagnetic and mechanical properties of the material are characterized to predict the behavior of the conductive polyethylene in service. In a layered composite with unmodified polyethylene and conductive polyethylene layers, the brittle behavior of the conductive polyethylene limits the strain to failure of the overall composite.

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