Modelling and Vulnerability Analysis of Cyber-Physical Power Systems Based on Interdependent Networks

Abstract

The strong coupling between the power grid and communication systems may contribute to failure propagation, which may easily lead to cascading failures or blackouts. In this paper, in order to quantitatively analyse the impact of interdependency on power system vulnerability, we put forward a “degree–electrical degree” independent model of cyber-physical power systems (CPPS), a new type of assortative link, through identifying the important nodes in a power grid based on the proposed index–electrical degree, and coupling them with the nodes in a communication system with a high degree, based on one-to-one correspondence. Using the double-star communication system and the IEEE 118-bus power grid to form an artificial interdependent network, we evaluated and compare the holistic vulnerability of CPPS under random attack and malicious attack, separately based on three kinds of interdependent models: “degree–betweenness”, “degree–electrical degree” and “random link”. The simulation results demonstrated that different link patterns, coupling degrees and attack types all can influence the vulnerability of CPPS. The CPPS with a “degree–electrical degree” interdependent model proposed in this paper presented a higher robustness in the face of random attack, and moreover performed better than the degree–betweenness interdependent model in the face of malicious attack.

Cyber-Physical Power System (CPPS): A Review on Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis With Cyber Security Applications

“…Using this model, the failure propagation is accurately forecasted and improved the network robustness. A quantitative analysis of the impact of interdependency on power system vulnerability is proposed in [159] considering the strong coupling between the power grid and the communication system. A reliability modelling of the smart grid is developed considering the cyber-physical interdependencies among the components and shown that the flawed cyberinfrastructure results in lower reliability of the smart grid compared to the conventional power grid with less advanced control [160].…”

Microgrid Cyber-Security: Review and Challenges toward Resilience

“…The reason why academia recently chosen to add the term "physical" to the equation is to shed light over the emerging threats imposed by connecting these two fundamentally different infrastructures together, which practically may lead to problems that do not particularly belong to a failure of either systems [14]. In light of these assumptions, further investigation is still needed to either confirm or deny the putative relationships [15]. Consequently, recent security assessment has focused on identifying the potential vulnerabilities introduced by the cyber layer and analyzes the possible impacts on energy systems, which has given birth to a brand new research area called cyber-physical security.…”

“…The reason why academia recently chosen to add the term "physical" to the equation is to shed light over the emerging threats imposed by connecting these two fundamentally different infrastructures together, which practically may lead to problems that do not particularly belong to a failure of either systems [14]. In light of these assumptions, further investigation is still needed to either confirm or deny the putative relationships [15].…”

Structural Vulnerability Analysis of Partially Interdependent Networks: The Joint Influence of Interdependence and Local Worlds

“…Hence, understanding the vulnerability of interdependent systems is of vital importance [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Attack vulnerability is regarded as one fundamental problem in many artificial and real-world interdependent networks, which has attracted extensive attention in the academic communities [38][39][40][41][42].…”