On Design and Implementation of Real-time, High-fidelity Virtual Power System for Smart Grid Cyber Range

Due to the emerging cyber threats and the necessity to advance the security of smart grids, an environment to conduct intensive cyber security research is essential. Cyber security experiments on a real infrastructure is infeasible due to the practical complications and thereby, virtual testbeds are a viable solution. However, many of the existing solutions either rely on lower-fidelity power system simulator or high-end real-time simulation hardware, which is costly, and accessibility is limited. In this paper, a near-real-time, power system dynamics simulation, using Simulink, that can be integrated into a smart grid cyber range for interactive cyber security experiments is developed and explored as a solution. The interoperational control and data exchange with external components in the cyber range is achieved through TCP and low-latency in-memory database, respectively. Furthermore, Simulink parameters are calibrated in order to balance real-timeness and fidelity of dynamics simulation. Finally, cyberattack experiments are demonstrated using the developed interoperational simulator model.