Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Recent advances in electronic and communication technologies have enabled the development of miniature computing nodes with wireless communication capability. These nodes can communicate with each other over wireless channels, and in the absence of an existing infrastructure, autonomously organize themselves to form small- or large-scale wireless networks. One of the domains that directly benefits from advances in wireless communication networks is the electric grid: old meters are being replaced with smart meters that allow energy providers to continuously and remotely collect, monitor, and provision energy consumption and distribution. Building the smart grid infrastructure with two-way communication of data consumption, monitoring and control, requires ultimate consideration of many security and privacy issues. As the infrastructure is expected to be very complex, with multiple entry points, and to connect an extremely large number of communication devices with various communication, computation, and storage capabilities, there is definitely a high risk that an attack on the infrastructure can have a drastic effect on the safety and well being of large number of people. Additionally, an ongoing monitoring of energy consumption by utility providers can be highly intrusive and can reveal information about the activities of consumers inside their homes. The objective of this research program is to build secure communication networks for the smart grid with trusted and authentic data and devices, and which allows the utility providers to reliably provision the grid without jeopardizing the privacy of the consumers.