Smart Grid Co-Simulation Tools: Review and Cybersecurity Case Study

Abstract

The smart grid is a complicated system consisting of communication network and power grid components. There are various powerful simulation tools for communication networks, as well as power systems. However, co-simulation tools are required to reproduce the interaction between cyber-physical components. We conducted a survey overview of various cosimulation tools and their characteristics applicable to smart grid research. We determined that the combination of FCNS, GridLAB-D and ns-3 is a promising direction for smart grid study, improving co-simulation speed by 20%. By applying these tools and the IEEE 13 Node Test Feeder Model, we conducted a case study on the impact of security threats on smart grid demand/response and dynamic pricing applications. The impact of fake data injection and jamming attacks are obvious as a result of our simulation. The findings support related research in the field and can be used for cybersecurity training.