Abstract of Research

Very special importance of power system as critical infrastructure lays in the fact that it is
increasingly essential for functioning of, other critical infrastructures (ICT, hospitals, etc.).
Existing complexity has been proved as challenge in order to keep high reliability and safety of
the power system. Recent developments related to the market deregulation and increased
introduction rate of distributed energy sources are making security challenges even higher.
Research focus in this project is establishment of simulation platform where all different
threats to the power system reliability and security could be investigated. The major goal would
be to simplify process of finding better solutions for the optimal system design and sufficient
control. This research will be based on the advanced simulation approach (including agent
modeling), and results from the real systems operating conditions.

Major Objectives

• Studying and assessing the current status of SCADA deployment (emphases on Italy and Croatia);
• Assessing priorities in future SCADA testbed architecture specification and development;
• Proposing a novel architecture for SCADA interaction modeling, based on cooperative agent negotiation, to bridge model with increased reliability and security;
• Formally and empirically prove the improvements in security, safety and resilience of this architecture over the ones commonly used;
• Developing a common understanding of industrial needs and requirements regarding the security of control systems and the related standardization, accompanied by a raising awareness programme reaching all end-users;
• Identifying and disseminating best practice, possibly in a joint endeavor between manufacturers and end users, resulting in a increased capability and defined technology taxonomy of security solutions;
• Development and deployment a SCADA testbed platform for analysis of emergent phenomena in power systems.

Overview of Achievements since the Start of the Project until 30 Sept. 2010:

• Thoroughly researched current related state of the art by the project team and young scientists;
• Defined full research plan and testbed concept;
• Further developed functional specification for required equipment;
• Procured part of the required equipment;
• Integration for a laboratory within the Faculty have been arranged;
• Most important software tools have been procured and successfully installed;
• Project website has been established;
• First publications have been published;
• Four young researchers stipendiary have been involved in the project related work;
• NATO project has become a major ground for related student seminars and projects;

Milestones for the Next Six Months

• Development of a draft model for the SCADA testbed (i.e., diagrams, pseudo code);
• Inclusion of smart metering and smart grid elements in further research;
• Publication of at least 2 conference paper;
• Development of at least 1 journal paper;
• Further procurement of equipment;
• Work laboratory established;
• Initial data for simulations gathered (i.e., physical grid, market data, IT facility specification).

Implementation of Results

First phases of the project results implementation will be at the research/education laboratory
at the Faculty of electrical engineering and computing at the University of Zagreb.