Secure and Scalable Data Collection With Time Minimization in the Smart Grid

Deployment of data generation devices such as sensors and smart meters have been accelerating toward the vision of smart grid. The volume of data to be collected increases tremendously. Secure, efficient, and scalable data collection becomes a challenging task. In this paper, we present a secure and scalable data communications protocol for smart grid data collection. Under a hierarchical architecture, relay nodes [also known as data collectors (DCs)] collect and convey the data securely from measurement devices to the power operator. While the DCs can verify the integrity, they are not given access to the content, which may pave the way for third party providers to deliver value-added services or even the data collection itself. We further present optimization solutions for minimizing the total data collection time.

I. Introduction

In the smart grid, a massive number of sensors or measurement devices (MDs) will be installed to collect real-time information. The generated data should be collected in a secure, efficient, and scalable manner. To make it scalable, a hierarchical data collection framework is usually adopted. For example, in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), smart meters first report measurements to data concentrators [1]. Thereby, the power operator (PO) does not have to maintain a separate, expensive connection with each smart meter. Apart from data collection, this hierarchical communication structure should also allow the PO to send an instruction to the devices. To maintain fast response, messages, data, or instructions, should be delivered efficiently and as fast as possible. The messages should be protected to prevent from information leak and launch of attacks. In this paper, we develop a comprehensive protocol that allows a PO to collect data, as well as send commands to MDs in a secure, scalable, and efficient manner.