Data integrity validation framework for distribution system operations

Abstract

A recent large-scale deployment of IP-based metering infrastructure in a secondary distribution system provides additional points to collect energy consumption data from each household. These measurements for each household can replace the estimated load profiles for each distribution transformer. While encryption ensures the confidentiality of customers' data transmission between senders and receiver, it does not protect the integrity of system-wide data collection from the "smart" meters. This can be vulnerable to cyber-threats that require a countermeasure to protect the availability and integrity of measurements. Potential cyber-threats can be denial of service (DoS) or electronic tampering by manipulating the electronic metering values. A data validation framework to cross-reference real-time metering measurements between primary and secondary networks is proposed, which introduces credibility scores that are associated with electronic metering devices. By evaluating the measurement values from different sources and historical data, this framework demonstrates that the discrepancies between those redundant meters with designated trustworthy level can be determined. A simulation study to identify credible cyber-tampering events can be inferred using proposed validation algorithms. Copyright © 2011 ACM.