SDN implementation based on Mininet to support Synchrophasor Measurement Systems for Smart Grid Management

Synchrophasor measurement technology represents a key element to supervise and control power networks. Despite of its recognized potential in supporting distributed and bidirectional Smart Grids, its usage is still bound to transmission networks, this is due to high deployment costs and limitations of static optical-based communication infrastructures to put in place. This paper proposes an SDN architectural model to overcome scalability and availability issues of such architectures: PMU-PDC therein communicate over a meshed network through logical paths dynamically managed by an SDN controller, implementing requested application service logic while curbing latency. This approach is first validated on a VM-based testbed, and tested afterwards on the Fog INtelliGent Edge Reactive platform (FINGER) reproducing a real Synchrophasor measurement network then.