Power Grid DLT Attestation for Device Trust and Anomaly Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
The electric grid faces challenges in ensuring the trustworthiness of devices and data due to increased vulnerability to adversarial manipulation, cyber events, and equipment failures, particularly in complex and heterogeneous smart grid infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
A Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) framework, specifically utilizing Hyperledger Fabric and blockchain-based methods, is employed to verify device and data trustworthiness by hashing device configuration data and detecting anomalies in data shared between devices, thereby protecting the system from illegitimate modifications and ensuring data integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If distributed ledger technology is implemented to verify device and data trustworthiness, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a distributed ledger technology (DLT) framework as an intermediary layer between grid devices and the central control system. This mediator verifies device configurations and data integrity through cryptographic hashing and consensus mechanisms, thereby enhancing trustworthiness without requiring fundamental changes to existing grid infrastructure. The DLT acts as a trusted third party that reconciles security requirements with operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates cryptographic copies (hashes) of device configurations and data that are stored on the distributed ledger. These digital copies serve as immutable verification records that can be checked without accessing the original complex device internals. By working with simplified cryptographic representations rather than full device states, the system maintains reliability while managing complexity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If blockchain-based verification methods are used to detect anomalies, then security is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential verification elements (device configuration hashes and key data integrity checks) from the full device operational data. By focusing verification efforts on these extracted critical parameters rather than analyzing all device data, the system achieves effective anomaly detection and security verification with reduced processing time. Non-critical data is excluded from the verification process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs verification on a partial basis, checking device configurations and data at strategically selected intervals and for specific critical parameters rather than continuously verifying all aspects. This partial verification approach provides sufficient security and anomaly detection capability while significantly reducing the time and computational resources required compared to exhaustive verification methods.
3Reliability
If distributed ledger technology is deployed across the grid, then data integrity is improved, but infrastructure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the distributed ledger framework to serve multiple functions simultaneously: it verifies device configurations, detects data anomalies, provides audit trails, and enables trust establishment between different grid entities. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single unified infrastructure, improving data integrity while managing overall complexity through functional consolidation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification of device configurations and data integrity at the point of data generation or transmission. By conducting verification actions in advance rather than reacting to issues after they occur, the system prevents data integrity problems from propagating through the grid. This proactive approach reduces the need for complex remediation infrastructure and simplifies overall system design.
Data Source
AI summary
An attestation framework to support attestation and anomaly detection in an electric grid. The attestation framework provides systems and methods that use distributed ledger technology (DLT) and implement DLT-based methods for verifying device and data trustworthiness on the electric grid. The framework attests to system changes and anomaly detection to flag specific events such as natural and cyber-induced grid events categorization, electrical faults in meters and relays and cyber events, e.g., based on statistical and baseline threshold values. The attestation framework can support the detection of system changes by itself, and in combination with an anomaly detection framework, has a lower system resource requirement and is more likely to catch system changes. An anomaly detection module can trigger attestation checks and uses the DLT for device and configuration verification purposes. The attestation framework can be deployed at substations or other environments, such as DERs or a microgrid.