SDN-Based Critical Infrastructure Resilience: A Smart Grid Perspective

Software-defined network (SDN) systems in their recent development has enabled innovative methods and systems to facilitate control of large and complex infrastructures critical to both regional and national interests. The advent of cloud computing allows the convergence of operation and information aspects of the traditional industrial control systems (ICS), forming the core functionalities of many critical infrastructures ranging from energy, transportation, communication to supply chains. Resilience and the mitigation of natural, manmade and cyber-based attacks are at the center of these infrastructures given the vast amount of data (both friendly and malicious) encountered in the systems. To address these issues, a holistic approach to examine the major subsystems of the infrastructure is thus essential. This paper provides a cross-sectional study of the cloud-based Smart Grid, which utilizes policy-based network management methods in runtime monitoring and operation at both the control and data-plane levels. We present an experimental 5G simulation platform that connects a network of SDN embedded 5G devices with a PLC network via the classical Ethernet as Internet of Things (IoT). Basic functionality of this experimental platform is verified for performance and scalability for future extension in system complexity.