A distributed monitoring architecture for AMIs: minimizing the number of monitoring nodes and enabling collided packet recovery

Abstract

The electrical power grid is in the midst of a breathtaking transformation into the "Smart Grid". A key element is development of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI),which is changing the way tilities interact with smart meters at customer sites. However, with the technology comes the new risks of cyber-attacks that could exploit vulnerabilities in different parts of the communication layers, and potentially affect significant portions of the power grid. This paper proposes a novel distributed monitoring architecture that is capable of selecting a subset of smart meters used as intrusion detection sensors -- a subset selected to minimize the number of meters needed while keeping the communication. Our architecture enables recovery of collided packets (that are subject to packet inspection), improving the overall reliability and accuracy of distributed monitoring.