Group Authentication Scheme for Neighbourhood Area Networks(NANs) In Smart Grids

A Neighbourhood Area Network is a functional component of the Smart Grid that interconnects the end user domain with the Energy Services Provider (ESP) domain. It forms the “edge” of the provider network, interconnecting homes instrumented with Smart Meters (SM) with the ESP. The SM is a dual interface, wireless communication device through which information is transacted across the user (a home) and ESP domains. The security risk to the ESP increases since the components within the home, interconnected to the ESP via the SM, are not managed by the ESP. Secure operation of the SM is a necessary requirement. The SM should be resilient to attacks, which might be targeted either directly or via the network in the home. This paper presents and discusses a security scheme for groups of SMs in a Neighbourhood Area Network that enable entire groups to authenticate themselves, rather than one at a time. The results show that a significant improvement in terms of resilience against node capture attacks, replay attacks, confidentiality, authentication for groups of SMs in a NAN that enable entire groups to authenticate themselves, rather than one at a time

Smart Grids: Integración del vehiculo eléctrico y simulación del impacto de la recarga en un sistema de media tensión

El presente documento consiste en el Trabajo Fin de Grado titulado “Smart Grids: Integración del Vehículo Eléctrico y Simulación del Impacto de la Recarga en un Sistema de Media Tensión” para la obtención del título de Graduado en Ingeniería Eléctrica por la Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche. El trabajo empieza con una revisión bibliográfica donde se describe y analiza el estado del arte de las tecnologías actuales de las redes eléctricas, conformando las Smart Grids o redes inteligentes, y la descripción de los principales elementos de los vehículos eléctricos y como se integran estos en las redes. A continuación, se presenta un estudio del impacto que los vehículos eléctricos tendrán en las redes eléctricas de media tensión, para el que se ha modelado una red de distribución real con todos sus elementos, además del diseño de un modelo de vehículo eléctrico equivalente a los reales y ajustado para su estudio mediante el software DIGSilent PowerFactory. Finalmente, se presentan y explican los resultados obtenidos, realizándose una comparación entre los mismos con el fin de determinar que alternativa de las propuestas en el trabajo es la más favorable para la correcta integración masiva de los nuevos vehículos eléctricosThis document is the Final Degree Project entitled “Smart Grids: Electric Vehicle Integration and Simulation of the Recharging Impact on Medium Voltage Systems” to obtain the title of Graduated in Electrical Engineering from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche. The project begins with a review and analysis of the State of the Art of the Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles. It follows with a study about the impact in the grid of this kind of vehicles, for which an actual distribution grid has been modeled with all its components, as well as the design and modelling of an equivalent electric vehicle adjusted for its study by the DIGSilent PowerFactory Software. Finally, the results obtained are presented and explained, making a comparison between them in order to determine which alternative of the proposed ones would be the most favorable for a correct massive integration of the new electric vehicle

Key Management Scheme for Smart Grid

A Smart Grid (SG) is a modern electricity supply system. It uses information and communication technology (ICT) to run, monitor and control data between the generation source and the end user. It comprises a set of technologies that uses sensing, embedded processing and digital communications to intelligently control and monitor an electricity grid with improved reliability, security, and efficiency. SGs are classified as Critical Infrastructures. In the recent past, there have been cyber-attacks on SGs causing substantial damage and loss of services. A recent cyber-attack on Ukraine's SG caused over 2.3 million homes to be without power for around six hours. Apart from the loss of services, some portions of the SG are yet to be operational, due to the damage caused. SGs also face security challenges such as confidentiality, availability, fault tolerance, privacy, and other security issues. Communication and networking technologies integrated into the SG require new and existing security vulnerabilities to be thoroughly investigated. Key management is one of the most important security requirements to achieve data confidentiality and integrity in a SG system. It is not practical to design a single key management scheme/framework for all systems, actors and segments in the smart grid, since the security requirements of various sub-systems in the SG vary. We address two specific sub-systems categorised by the network connectivity layer – the Home Area Network (HAN) and the Neighbourhood Area Network (NAN). Currently, several security schemes and key management solutions for SGs have been proposed. However, these solutions lack better security for preventing common cyber-attacks such as node capture attack, replay attack and Sybil attack. We propose a cryptographic key management scheme that takes into account the differences in the HAN and NAN segments of the SG with respect to topology, authentication and forwarding of data. The scheme complies with the overall performance requirements of the smart grid. The proposed scheme uses group key management and group authentication in order to address end-to-end security for the HAN and NAN scenarios in a smart grid, which fulfils data confidentiality, integrity and scalability requirements. The security scheme is implemented in a multi-hop sensor network using TelosB motes and ZigBee OPNET simulation model. In addition, replay attack, Sybil attack and node capture attack scenarios have been implemented and evaluated in a NAN scenario. Evaluation results show that the scheme is resilient against node capture attacks and replay attacks. Smart Meters in a NAN are able to authenticate themselves in a group rather than authenticating one at a time. This significant improvement over existing schemes is discussed with comparisons with other security schemes