Grid Based Routing - VirtueGrid SDN Whitepaper

Software-defined networking (SDN) can have several useful applications in the domain of energy automation. In addition to simplified network management, we propose to link specific application-layer information to the SDN layer in order to trigger automated network reconfiguration. This paper analyses a scenario in which the association between field sensors and fieldcontrollers in an electricity distribution grid changes with the feeder configuration chosen by the grid operator. When a data source in the grid (e.g. voltage sensor) is electrically connected to a different substation, also the sensor values are required to be communicated to thenew substation controller. The state of the art approach is to solve the issue on application layer - either by changing destination addresses at the sensor units, triggering node discovery at the controller or changing logical bindings between source and destination. In this work,we study a solution where association is changed in the SDN itself. This simplifies application level deployment of the application and reduces the complexity of the application. Further we discuss the advantages and challenges that are introduced to the Smart Grid domain with the SDN-level implementation.