Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 2 2. System architecture...........................................................................................4 2.2 Control Layer..............................................................................................5 2.3 Communication Layer..................................................................................5 2.4Application Layer: .........................................................................................6 3. Wireless Hierarchy of the Smart Grid ................................................................7 3.1Home Area Network (HAN)............................................................................7 3.2Neighborhood Area Networks........................................................................9 3.3Wide Area Network......................................................................................10 4. Security Issues of Smart Grid...........................................................................11 4.1WiMAX......................................................................................................12 4.2IEEE 802.11.................................................................................................12 4.3Zigbee.........................................................................................................13 5. Discussion and Conclusion...............................................................................14 6. References.......................................................................................................15

1.

Introduction
The electric power is operating near capacity and need of the electric power is increasing, to compromise this, there is needs for critical improvements in distribution and mixing of electric generated from different energy resources. Additionally, the grid has got to shore up efforts to cut carbon emissions and use of renewable energy resources more ingeniously through revolutionizes in energy use pattern. This demand and management of the electric power is possible through the Smart Grid technology. The Smart Grid is the upgrading of the electricity grid by means of communication technology for achieving primary goals as [1] reduce energy consumption and hence production so as to limit environmental impact reduce energy costs for consumers encourage customers to produce energy through clean sources like solar panels and grant them credit for it set up a level of automation, including Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Smart Grids organize the requirements and ability of all generators, endusers, grid operators and electrical energy market stakeholders to operate all parts of the system as efficiently as possible, reduce costs and environmental impacts while maximising system reliability, security, precision, connectivity and interoperability [2]. The move towards Smart Grid initiatives is varied across utilities. Selected applications, priorities, requirements and preferences differ, driven by geography, funding availability and services offered. In nearly all cases, applications are rolled out in phases as resources become available and as utilities become ready to integrate them within the organization. By gradually adding new applications, utilities can incrementally extract more benefits from the Smart Grid. The different implementation paths are still on research for the best working capabilities and what type of application should be given highest priority [3]. The success of Smart Grid working rely on telecommunications networks which are scalable and future-proof aiming easy adjustment for addition of new applications and improvement to existing ones. This technology allows utilities to deploy new applications without facing expensive overlay network deployment.
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Smart Grids roadmap consists of electrical energy networks and communication interfaces with production, storage and end-users. Figure 1 demonstrates the evolutionary character of Smart Grids and Table 1 shows comparision of the present grid and Smart Grid.

Figure 1. Smarter electricity systems [4] A comparision of the present grid and Smart Grid is disscused on Table 1 [5]. Table 1: Comparision of Todays Grid and Smart Grid Characteristic Todays Grid Smart Grid Facilitates active Consumers are unaware Consumers up to date, involvement by and not involve with concerned, and active consumers power system involvement about demand and circulated energy resources Accommodates Dominated by central Various energy resources all production generationa lot of available in plug-and-play and storage obstructions exist for connection and are focus options different energy on renewable energy. resources interconnection. Recent products, Restricted wholesale Established, wellservices and markets, not well- integrated wholesale markets integrated few markets, development of availability. opportunities for new electrical energy consumers markets for consumers Power quality for Centre on outages and Power quality is a prime the digital market deliberate reaction to concern with a selection of power quality issues quality/price selection and rapid resolution of issues
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Optimization resources operation efficiency

Significantly extended data acquisition of grid factors aimed for preventing and minimizing impact to consumers Anticipation and React to prevent further Automatically discover response to damage but focusing on and take action to system disorder protecting assets troubleshoot it and (self-heals) focusing on prevention, reducing impact to consumer

of Small inclusion of & functioning data with asset management and silos business process

2.

System architecture
The Smart Grid is the combination of digital communications, information technology and power system to provide strong and well-managed electric power system. This consists of actuation, control, digital communication, and sensing system that easy in determining, supervising and controlling of the electrical grid system, thus allow systematic management, control and accurate estimation of flows of electricity over grid. The electric power flow in grid is bi-directional which allows customers to receive and supply electric energy produced by them. The electric power generation is done by using renewable generation sources like solar panel or bio gas. Hence, converting the power grid to Smart Grid system [6][8]. Overview of Smart Grid architecture is shown in the Figure 2
2.1

Power System Layer

The foundation layer of the Smart Grid architecture is the Actuators (power system) which consists of actuation devices, transportation grid and power conversion. Smart Meter is a actuation device which allow two way flow of power allowing customer to receive and supply electric power. The power generated can be utilized by the nearer needed electric appliances. This improvises efficiency electric power system by reducing the electric energy losses because of long distance transmission.

Figure 2 : Smart Grid Layered Blue Print[7]

2.2

Control Layer

The purpose control layer is to find the real-time fault detection and isolation by using bidirectional communication link between two nodes. The nodes are connected by some sensor. These sensors provide the rough data about system health which are analyzed, and thus fault pre-emption and trending is done. At this layer the data of real-time computations of power are recorded that can be accessed by both utilities and costumers.

2.3

Communication Layer

Communication layer is the backbone of the Smart Grid as it connects all the layers together. The Communications Layer can be divided into three sub divisions as Home Area Network [HAN]: HAN is network topology that link the communication between devices in an apartment in Smart Grid architecture.. Neighbourhood Area Network [NAN]: NAN topology link the communication between the customers premise Smart Meters and utility companies. Wide Area Network [WAN]: WAN topology provides the backhaul communications, that is, communication to link to the NAN and
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the nearest or most cost-effective fiber connection., network operating centre (NOC). The wireless communication technologies like WiMAX, 802.16, 802.11 WiFi, 802.15.4/Zigbee, and optical fiber are the backbone communication layer in Smart Grid. Figure 3 shows the hierarchical organization for efficient use of communication technology in term of coverage area and bandwidth utilization for such coverage. The analysis is done for the cost effectiveness.

Figure 3: Smart Grid Building Blocks[9 For the wireless infrastructure component, 4G technologies like WiMAX can host the entire set of Smart Grid applications that utilities want to implement. Other technologies, such as narrowband proprietary wireless networks, second generation (2G) or third generation (3G) cellular networks, or Wi-Fi networks can support some applications, but not all.

2.4 Application Layer:

Decision intelligence is in the application layer and is at the top of the Smart Grid architecture. This layer cover substation automation, load distribution, fault-management and other control plans which assure power system constancy and balance power requirement and supply.

3.

Wireless Hierarchy of the Smart Grid

Some of the Wireless technology is so powerful and flexible that single technology along can communicate with whole Smart Grid system, like WiFi. But for economic reason for deferent level of the different technologies are used.

3.1 Home Area Network (HAN)

In Smart Grid technology HAN provide the communication between the customers premise and the Smart Devices. This network is set up by the utility company and is connected to the backhaul network for communication with the utility company headquarters. Figure 4 shows a typical HAN communication.

Figure 4: Zigbee HAN Demonstration System Architecture[11] For such network use of the Zigbee wireless technology is one of the good options. Zigbee is a low cost, low data rate, low power consumption and short range communication technology built on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The Zigbee devices operate on 2.4-GHz radio band which is licence-free radio signal in most of the countries. United States National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has defined ZigBee smart energy profile (SEP) as
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one of the communication standards to be used on Smart Grid in the customer premise network domain. But due to the limited transmission range of Zigbee for long-range communication, technologies like IEEE 802.11 b/g/n is used to provide communication between utilities and customer premises. The protocol stack of Zigbee is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: ZigBee protocal Stack[12] The extra feature that are added on Zigbee at application Layer that make suitable for HAN are describe below [12] Application profile: An Application Profile is the framework that defines a set of devices that are rationally used together in implementing an application. Zigbee has defined framework differently according to different use. For instance, the ZigBee Alliance has defined the application profile as Home Automation (HA) profile, HA is used to control appliances and systems in the home, such as a heating system. It also defines the number of devices to be used along with function to control them. For heating system the function defined might be the time to on/off the heater, control the temperature, etc. Devices, Clusters and Attributes: Zigbee defines device as a software entity that defines the functionalities and properties for application that are to be connected to network node. An attribute is a data entity like temperature, intensity, etc exchange between the different applications in the network. Cluster in Zigbee is the communicating attribute which consist of a set of related attributes along with set of commands. A cluster has two commands send and receive used to communicate between Input cluster and Output cluster as shown in Figure
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ZigBee Cluster Library (ZCL): Even though clusters are defined in an Application Profile but due to certain clusters being common to all Application Profiles, Zigbee define ZCL which contain all the standard clusters. For instance, the Smart Energy profile utilizes the Time cluster from the ZCL for synchronizing the different nodes in HAN.

3.2

Neighborhood Area Networks

NAN is the communication network that aids the communications connecting the utilities and the Smart Meters installed at the customer premises. For Neighborhood Area Networks, the protocols/standards IEEE 802.11 [Wi-Fi] and Cellular technology [GSM] well in terms of security, coverage range, accessibility and ease of implementation. IEEE 802.11 standard in term of speed and frequency band is summarized in Table 2.[13] Communication of the HAN to WAN by NAN depends upon the density of the population. For dense population, NAN aggregates the Smart Meters data at single communication points and transmit it onto WAN as shown in Figure. Whereas, for thin population area first small cluster of the HAN are connected at point by using 802.11b/g and such points are the connected to another point at long distance by point-to-point link using long-range signal (802.11n) which are then connected to WAN as shown in Figure

Figure 6: The NAN in Dense Environments[13]

Figure 7: The NAN Environments[13]

with

Wide-area

aggregation

in

Sparse

3.3 Wide Area Network

In Smart Grid the wide area network acts as a gateway for NAN communicate with most nearer cost-effective fiber connection. The WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) receive the signal from the NANs transmitter and send it to the fiber optic and hence to the interne. Sometime where fiber optic is not possible ~WiMAX directly connect to the internet as shown in the Figure 8 [14][9].

Figure 8: WAN communication links

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Wimax is typically sutiable as WAN communicator in Smart Grid are High-capacity WiMAX base station is capable of connecting numerous 99.999% Availability, thus suitable for Real-time and critical services Supports Multi-service environment with Quality of Service (QoS) and no interference Latency is Ultra low. Provide better coverage and no line of sight is required. only to a base station cannot provide) Other important Wireless technology that can be used in place of above mentioned technologies are explained below. Bluetooth Bluetooth is one of the most commonly used wireless technologies. Most of the communication devices these have built-in Bluetooth and separate plug-in are also. In Smart Grid Bluetooth can be used in HAM instead of Zigbee. But as Bluetooth has disadvantages like interference, short range and low data transfer rate, Zigbee is preferred. The table shows the detail information of Bluetooth. Overall comparison of wireless technology is shown in the table [15] Table 2: Comparison of different wireless technology[15] [16] Blueto ZigBe WiFi WiFi WiFi WiFi WiMA oth e (a) (b) (g) (n) X 802.1 802.1 802.1 802.1 802.1 802.1 Standard 802.15 5.4 1a 1b 1g 1n 6 Frequency 2.4 2.4/5 2.4/5 5 2.4 2.4 2 66 (GHz) 0.720.02300 Speed (Mbps) 54 11 54 80 2.1 0.2 Range 10m 50m 50m 100m 100m 250 50km Cost Low Low High Low High Low High Power Low Mediu High Low High High High consumption m

4.

Security Issues of Smart Grid

Electric power is the most vital part of the national infrastructure. In f Smart Grid electric power is combined with the communication to obtain various advantages as explained in introduction of this paper. But along with advantages the cyber threat is added to it.
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"The electric grid is highly dependent on computer-based control systems. These systems are increasingly connected to open networks such as the internet, exposing them to cyber risks. Any failure of our electric grid, whether intentional or unintentional, would have a significant and potentially devastating impact on our nation" Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chair of the US House Committee on Homeland Security, with the introduction of the "Critical Electric Infrastructure Protection Act" (April 30, 2009) [17] Using of wireless as the communication channel wide open to the attack if the security is weak.. attacker can connect to these wireless network and can do the serious damage to national infrastructure. The security issues of the different major wireless technology is explained below[18]

4.1

WiMAX

Security issues WiMAX Base Station (BS) does not needs authentication, hence it prone to Man-in-the-middle attacks and this leads to exposure of subscribers confidentiality and availability. AS WiMAX is liciensed RF spectrum, attacker can gadgets available to jam the network and results to DoS. Though WiMAX 802.16e supports advance encryption standard (AES), but as management frames are not supplied with this encryption leads to attacks. Attackers can gather information about subscriber and also can view network structure in the area. Another issue is Water Torture Attack in which attackers relay of frames to a node and drain the battery life of attacked node. Security implementation Use of the Message Authentication Code (MAC) technique can be applied for the vulnerabilityof the management message in the initial ranging. Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) can be used to protect against masquerading parties used for nutal authentication scheme.

4.2

IEEE 802.11

Security issues
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Rouge access points are one of the common security issues as most of the users uses default setting at the end users. MAC spoofing is another issue which arises as management frames are not authenticated. The attacker takes advantage of this by redirecting the traffic and corrupting the ARP tables. DoS of the service can be achieved performed from physical, data-link and network layers. Physical layer attack is performed by inducing the noise on the communication channel. If the Data-link layer access point is improperly utilizing the diversity antennas, attacker can perform DoS attack. At network layer, attacker can flood ICMP packets to gateway which create problem to client for sending and receiving the data.

Security implementation Filtering of MAC can is the best options which give only accesses to the clients and other system are blocked. Use of Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and checking of encryption of the message integrity can prevent the DoS.

4.3

Zigbee

Security issues During the power failure and low power operation period there is chance of the loss of the Access Control List (ACL) table. .Zigbee uses the network wide shared key which leads to the replay attack and this can be use to DoS. While sender request for the acknowledgement from the receiver for the packet sent, acknowledgement packets are sent which is not confidential and not integrated. This allow the attacker to drop the send packet by sender and send valid looking acknowledgment packets to assure the data is received by the receiver Security implementation Loss of ACL state can be saved on the Flash memory which can be later restored. MAC addresses filtering which is defined in ACL. AES encryption standards can be used to protect the data while transmitting. Concept of like shared unique key should be used while transmitting the data

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5.

Discussion and Conclusion

As from introduction part it is clear that Smart Grid is the technology that handles the energy in effective and Table 1 clearly shows how the significant the change would with Smart Grid. For the data exchange between costumer premises devices and the distributer, the communication channel is necessary in Smart Grid technology. Furthermore to link all the devices with physical cable connection is not efficient in term of cost and time so the wireless technology plays vital role to build the Smart Grid technology in smatter way. WiMAX alone can take cover all communication but to make Smart Grid performance better in cost effective way communication channel is build on hierarchy of HAN, NAN and WAN. The wireless technologies in this hierarchy are used according to the range of communication. The network topology may changes according to needs like HAN with Industrial Area Network (IAN) and NAN with Field Area Network (FAN). Though the wireless technology has several advantage, it do bring some disadvantage in term of security. Wireless is open connection anyone can connect to communication channel with and can make attack the network. But with careful implementation of wireless technologies the security issue can significantly minimize. In one sentence, the wireless technology is the future of the Smart Grid communication channel.

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6.

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17. Journal of energy security, 18 JUNE 2009,The Security Vulnerabilities of Smart Grid], http://www.ensec.org/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=198:the-securityvulnerabilities-of-smart-grid&catid=96:content&Itemid=345 18. Adithya Shreyas, 2006, ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS FOR NEIGHBORHOOD AREA NETWORK FOR SMART GRID http://csusdspace.calstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10211.9/849/Masters %20Project%20-%20Adithya%20Shreyas_Final.pdf?sequence=2

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