Reliable and Scalable Communication for the Power Grid

Future smart power grids require constant data availability for actuation of control decisions. The job of ensuring the timely arrival of data falls onto the network that connects these intelligent devices. This network needs to be fault tolerant. When nodes, devices or communication links fail along a default route of a message from A to B, the underlying hardware and software layers should ensure that this message will actually be delivered as long as alternative routes exist. Existence and discovery of multi-route pathways is essential in ensuring delivery of critical data. In this work, we present methods of developing network topologies of smart devices that enable multi-route discovery in an intelligent power grid. This is accomplished through the utilization of software overlays that (1) maintain a digital structure for the physical network and (2) identify new routes in the case of faults. The resulting cyber network structure is scalable, reliable and inexpensive to build by extending existing infrastructure.