Development of an Experimental Platform for Analysis of Cyber Attacks on the Power Grid

Abstract DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM FOR ANALYSIS OF CYBER ATTACKS ON THE POWER GRID Abstract An experimental platform for the evaluation of cyber-attacks and their possible impacts on a generator control system is important for the power industry as well as for undergraduate education in power engineering. Hands on experience in the cyber security aspects of the power grid is practically non-existent (except for a few large research laboratories) because of inherent difficulties in replicating power grid in a laboratory environment. An experimental cyber security testbed will facilitate understanding and evaluation of the impacts of cyber-attacks on the generator control system and its economic ramifications as well as to evaluate any countermeasure capable of defending or preventing harms to the power grid. This paper presents the design of a single generator networked control system (NCS) from an educational perspective to provide a platform for cyber security studies and their possible impacts on the power grid. The generator NCS is comprised of three main components: 1) a synchronous generator in a two-bus system, and 2) a data acquisition (DAQ) unit and 3) a controller connected in a local area network. The two-bus power grid consists of a LabVolt synchronous generator driven by a dynamometer serving as the prime mover, and the field circuit controlled by insulated gate bipolar junction transistor (IGBT) DC/DC chopper, transmission line, and load bank (resistor, capacitor, inductor). The DAQ unit is comprised of voltage and current transformers and op-amp circuits that are interfaced with an Arduino Uno microprocessor for analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) and further processing. The DAQ system sends the voltage and current data to the controller via the Ethernet link. The controller is implemented in software in a laptop and sends control signals to a separate Arduino which is then responsible for controlling the voltage applied to the field circuit of the synchronous generator. This is accomplished through the use of an IGBT chopper which is controlled by a pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage signal produced by the Arduino. This experimental platform can be used for the purpose of observing the effects of cyber-attacks on a generator control system in real time. All aspects of the platform development including the DAQ unit, the Ethernet interface, and the controller are discussed in detail. A baseline for the behavior of the two-bus system is first established by operating the generator under various load conditions for which the controller maintains the desired terminal voltage. Then we launch a series of false data injection attacks (biasing and random data) on the sensor network. Lastly, we launch a Denial-of-Service attack that triggers data packet loss in the sensor network. With no attack prevention mechanism in place, the developed experimental platform provides a facility to the students to observe and evaluate the impacts of various cyber-attacks on a real physical power generator.