Resilient Cyber-Physical Security for DER
Project Informtion
Project Title: CISE-MSI:RPEP:CPS: A Resilient Cyber-Physical Security Framework for Next-Generation Distributed Energy Resources at Grid Edge
Award Number: CNS-2219733
Award Amount: $737,373 (Total: $1,187,373)
Project Period: 10/2022-09/2025
Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Taesic Kim
Co-PI: Habib Ammari
Graduate Students: Seerin Ahmad, Bohyun Ahn, Alycia Jenkins, Kalyan Nakka, Alve Akash
Undergraduate Students: Logan Atinkson, Hugo Tavares-Vengas
Project Overview
The project is a collaborative effort of two Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK, Lead, PI Dr. Taesic Kim) and University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and a leading national lab (Sandia National Laboratories) to form a strong partnership and boost institutions’ capacity of resilient cyber-physical security for the next-generation distributed energy resources (DER) dominated power grid. The goal of this proposal is to launch a major research direction to develop an innovative resilient cyber-physical security framework that address imminent challenges in future cyber-physical security requirements and resilient operational strategies for DER-rich power systems. Specific integrated research thrusts to realize this goal are as follows: 1) Develop a blockchain (BC) security governance model for DER systems operating under multiparty and system of systems environments; 2) Develop a quantum secure DER network by studying a lightweight post quantum cryptography (PQC) against quantum computing attacks; 3) Realize DER inverter hardware hardening by investigating a new DER smart inverter security design which implements PQC, a systematic PCB authentication for hardware security, and a comprehensive diagnosis, and 4) Achieve controlled resilience at grid edge using event-triggered resilient self-learning control with minimum communication.
Publications
N. Sugunaraj, S. R. A. Balaji, B. S. Chandar, T. Mahfuz, P. Chakraborty, S. Ahmad, T. Kim, G. Aprunzzese, A. Dubey, L. Strezoski, B. Blakely, S. Ghosh, M. J. B. Reddy, H. V. Padullaparti, and P. Ranganathan*, "Distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) cybersecurity scenarios, trends, and potential technologies: A review, IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 2023, submitted.
B. Ahn, T. Kim*, S. Ahmad, S. Mazumder, J. Johnson, A. Mantooth, and C. Farnell, "An overview of cyber-resilient smart inverters based on practical attack models," IEEE Trans. Power Electronics, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 4657-4673, April 2024.
K. Nakka, S. Ahmad, T. Kim*, L. Atkinson, and H. Ammari, "Post-quantum cryptography (PQC)-grade IEEE 2030.5 for quantum secure distributed energy resources networks," in Proc. 2024 IEEE PES ISGT NA, Washington DC, USA, 2024, pp. 1-5.
A. Akash, A. Khot, and T. Kim*, "Quantum annealing-based machine learning for battery health monitoring robust to adversarial attacks," in Proc. 2023 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, Nashville, TN, USA, Oct. 29-Nov. 2023, pp. 6307-6311.
B. Ahn, A. Jenkins, T. Kim*, and J. Zeng, "Exploring ransomware attacks on smart inverters," in Proc. 2023 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, Nashville, TN, USA, Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2023, pp. 1567-1573.
A. Akash, B. Ahn, A. Jenkins, A. Khot, L. Silva, H. Tavares-Vengas, and T. Kim*, "Quantum convolutional neural network-based online malware file detection for smart grid devices," in Proc. 2023 IEEE Design Methodologies Conference, Miami, FL, USA, Sept. 24-26, 2023, pp. 1-5.
A. M. Jenkins, B. Ahn, A. Akash, and T. Kim*, "Device-centric ransomware detection using machine learning-based memory forensics for smart inverters," in Proc. Eighth Annual Industrial Control System Security (ICSS) Workshop, Austin, TX, USA, Dec. 6, 2022, pp. 1-7.
S. Ahmad, B. Ahn, T. Kim*, J. Choi, M. Chae, D. Han, and D. Won, "Blockchain-integrated resilient distributed energy resources management system," in Proc. 2022 IEEE SmartGridComm, Singapore, Oct. 25-28, 2022, pp. 59-64.