Low-cost and Secure Communication System for Remote Micro-grids using AES Cryptography on ESP32 with LoRa Module

Abstract

Modern trend., towards renewable energy sources has complicated our power systemS’ network with the distributed generation and its control. The major challenge of this network is to implement a low cost, secure and authentic communication system between Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) unit and Remote End Devices (RED). This paper addresses the issues of security and authenticity for wireless communication for SCADA system. Algorithm of Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has been implemented on ESP32 with LoRa module to secure the wireless communication for micro-grids and authenticity has been achieved by generating unique Message Authentication Code (MAC). A point to point communication setup has been developed with range above 10km and cost less than $40 with power consumption of 5mW.