Engineering Commons^™

Reference Design Of An Online Emulation And Hot-Patching Approach For Power Electronic Controller Validation, Estefano Soria Pearson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to develop a reference design of an online security system approach embedded in a power electronic controller for cybersecurity purposes. Cybersecurity in power electronics focuses on reducing vulnerabilities in the system, where most reside in the communication with the hardware devices. Although methods to secure communications lessen the probability and effects of cyber-attacks, discovering vulnerabilities is inevitable. This thesis attempts to provide a fail-safe approach to securing the system by targeting the safety of the power-electronic controller. This approach applies an additional security layer in case of a malicious or accidental controller firmware malfunction.

The online security …

Cybersecurity Methods For Grid-Connected Power Electronics, Stephen Joe Moquin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present work shows a secure-by-design process, defense-in-depth method, and security techniques for a secure distributed energy resource. The distributed energy resource is a cybersecure, solar inverter and battery energy storage system prototype, collectively called the Cybersecure Power Router. Consideration is given to the use of the Smart Green Power Node for a foundation of the present work. Metrics for controller security are investigated to evaluate firmware security techniques. The prototype's ability to mitigate, respond to, and recover from firmware integrity degradation is examined. The prototype shows many working security techniques within the context of a grid-connected, distributed energy resource. …

Scada And Plc Systems Configuration For The Ncrept Test Facility, Arman Ahmed

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis details the project to update the control and interface system of the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) testing facility. The need for this project arose from the 2017-2018 expansion of the facility, which included some modifications in the layout of electrical equipment used for testing purposes. These modifications necessitated the update of the control and interface system. Additionally, the old system was implemented a decade ago and is nearing obsolescence, so the facility’s expansion served as an opportune time for an upgrade.

There were two main parts to the scope of this project, which were …

Command Validation For Cybersecure Power Router, Isaac M. Kroger

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

For grid-connected homes equipped with solar panels, power electronics are necessary to manage and convert power between the solar panels, battery storage, grid, and residential load. A power router can be used to manage these power electronics and govern power generation, storage, and distribution within the household. This level of control makes power routers that do not employ cybersecurity a target for external attacks. The use of command validation is an effective way to prevent unauthorized commands from maliciously altering the state of a home’s power router. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the development of the command …

Low Latency Intrusion Detection In Smart Grids, Israel Zairi Akingeneye

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The transformation of traditional power grids into smart grids has seen more new technologies such as communication networks and smart meters (sensors) being integrated into the physical infrastructure of the power grids. However, these technologies pose new vulnerabilities to the cybersecurity of power grids as malicious attacks can be launched by adversaries to attack the smart meters and modify the measurement data collected by these meters. If not timely detected and removed, these attacks may lead to inaccurate system state estimation, which is critical to the system operators for control decisions such as economic dispatch and other related functions.

This …