Evaluation of software-defined networking for power systems

A highly available and secure communication infrastructure is one of the major prerequisites for modern power systems. In this paper we evaluate the use of a software-defined networking infrastructure in the domain of energy communication networks. The advantages and potential risks of using software-defined networking at the current stage of development in productive networks are investigated. Test scenarios are defined based on IEC 61850 traffic specification to perform traffic measurements using the OpenFlow standard and real network devices. Software-defined networks have the potential to offer significant advantages over conventional networks. However, we will show through our analysis and measurements that there are still open issues that need to be solved before usage in a productive environment.