Programmable and Reconfigurable Cyber-Physical Networked Microgrids through Software-Defined Networking

Networked microgrids provide promising solutions to modernize the electric power grids. To promote the physical networked microgrids' operations, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology is used to establish a programmable communication network for the physical system. By using OpenFlow protocol, SDN separates the data plane from its control plane, which makes it easy to flexibly program the cyber-layer when necessary. Based on SDN, the cyber-physical system's formation, partition, and reconfiguration are introduced. Extensive tests verify the effectiveness of SDN technology in enabling programmable and reconfigurable networked microgrids system. The test results also offer an insight into enhancing the resilience of networked microgrids by reconfiguring the system using SDN.