A Comprehensive Risk Assessment Framework for Synchrophasor Communication Networks in a Smart Grid Cyber Physical System with a Case Study

Abstract

The smart grid (SG), which has revolutionized the power grid, is being further improved by using the burgeoning cyber physical system (CPS) technology. The conceptualization of SG using CPS, which is referred to as the smart grid cyber physical system (SGCPS), has gained a momentum with the synchrophasor measurements. The edifice of the synchrophasor system is its communication network referred to as a synchrophasor communication network (SCN), which is used to communicate the synchrophasor data from the sensors known as phasor measurement units (PMUs) to the control center known as the phasor data concentrator (PDC). However, the SCN is vulnerable to hardware and software failures that introduce risk. Thus, an appropriate risk assessment framework for the SCN is needed to alleviate the risk in the protection and control of the SGCPS. In this direction, a comprehensive risk assessment framework has been proposed in this article for three types of SCNs, namely: dedicated SCN, shared SCN and hybrid SCN in an SGCPS. The proposed framework uses hardware reliability as well as data reliability to evaluate the associated risk. A simplified hardware reliability model has been proposed for each of these networks, based on failure probability to assess risk associated with hardware failures. Furthermore, the packet delivery ratio (PDR) metric is considered for measuring risk associated with data reliability. To mimic practical shared and hybrid SCNs, the risk associated with data reliability is evaluated for different background traffics of 70%, 80% and 95% using 64 Kbps and 300 Kbps PMU data rates. The analytical results are meticulously validated by considering a case study of West Bengal’s (a state in India) power grid. With respect to the case study, different SCNs are designed and simulated using the QualNet network simulator. The simulations are performed for dedicated SCN, shared SCN and hybrid SCN with 64 Kbps and 300 Kbps PMU data rates. The simulation results are comprehensively analyzed for risk hedging of the proposed SCNs with data reliability and hardware reliability. To summarize, the mean risk with data reliability (RwDR) as compared to the mean risk with hardware reliability (RwHR) increases in shared SCN and hybrid SCN by a factor of 17.108 and 23.278, respectively. However, minimum RwDR increases in shared and hybrid SCN by a factor of 16.005 and 17.717, respectively, as compared to the corresponding minimum RwHR. The overall analysis reveals that the RwDR is minimum for dedicated SCN, moderate for shared SCN, and highest for hybrid SCN.

Cybersecurity Risk Assessment of Industrial Control Systems Based on Order-α Divergence Measures Under an Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Environment

“…Step 4: Comprehensive values of each attack path are calculated by using ( 12), ( 13), (14), and (15). The results are shown in Table 10.…”

“…Chang et al [14] applied a failure mode and effect analysis model to quantify the risk level combining evidential reasoning (ER) with a rule-based Bayesian network (RBN). Jha et al [15] presented a risk assessment framework for smart grids, which applied hardware reliability and data reliability to evaluate risks.…”

Blockchain-Enabled Smart Grid Applications: Architecture, Challenges, and Solutions

“…The major outages across the globe, such as those in Brazil in February 2011, the Pacific Southwest in September 2011, India in July 2012, Vietnam in May 2013, the Philippines in June 2013, Bangladesh in November 2014, etc., have necessitated the wide-area measurement system (WAMS) in the SG [28,29]. The WAMS is a comprehensive solution to monitor, control, and maintain the SG by incorporating the state-of-the-art infrastructure, emerging technology, and tools.…”

Dynamic Risk Assessment and Certification in the Power Grid: A Collaborative Approach

“…Authors in [18] developed a risk assessment framework for three Synchrophasor Communication Network (SCN) topologies, namely, a. dedicated, b. shared and c. hybrid, which relies on hardware and data reliability to evaluate the risk. A generic hardware reliability model is presented and for each SCN type, a simplified model is developed, while the data integrity reliability model remains the same.…”