
NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | July 13, 2015 |
Latest Amendment Date: | July 13, 2015 |
Award Number: | 1505633 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
David Corman
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
Start Date: | July 15, 2015 |
End Date: | June 30, 2020 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $166,654.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $166,654.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
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History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY RALEIGH NC US 27695-0001 (919)515-2444 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
890 Oval Dr. Raleigh NC US 27695-7911 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): |
CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems, Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Modern systems such as the electric smart grid consist of both cyber and physical components that must work together; these are called cyber-physical systems, or CPS. Securing such systems goes beyond just cyber security or physical security into cyber-physical security. While the threats multiply within a CPS, physical aspects also can reduce the threat space. Unlike purely cyber systems, such as the internet, CPS are grounded in physical reality. In this project, this physical reality is used to limit an attacker's ability to disrupt the system by limiting his/her ability to lie about his/her actions; if an attacker is inconsistent with physical reality, his/her actions are detectable and damage his/her reputation for future interactions with the system. The impacts of this work are far-reaching, as it creates a basis for developing inherently security CPS for not only the electric smart grid, but also advanced transportation and building environmental systems. A new generation of interdisciplinary scientists and engineers are being trained through this research.
This project formulates a novel methodology that incorporates knowledge from both the cyber and physical domains into a distributed algorithm and ensures the trustworthiness, thus security, of the composed system. Metrics for security are also derived and rest on logical invariants that express correctness. The invariants either check the validity of a local action or the accuracy of remote data. They may be used as guards against an action, or may be incorporated into a dynamic reputation-based algorithm.
As a testbed, a multilateral energy system on an electrical network will be studied. Preliminary studies of this system have resulted in algorithms that isolate malicious nodes within the context of a single algorithm, using a reputation metric that compares cyber information flows to physically measurable signals. The work will be extended to other algorithms and other related power systems, a generalizable framework will be developed, and more complete metrics will be derived.
The project has important broader impact. It develops new approaches for securing critical infrastructure based on both and cyber and physical system aspects. The project also includes graduate and undergraduate involvement in cyber-physical systems research and design through involvement with testbeds and the Missouri Science and Technology Solar House team which designs and constructs houses for competition in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project formulated a novel methodology for creating secure algorithms in cyberphysical systems (CPS) and developed metrics for evaluating the security of composed systems. A holistic cybersecurity framework that encompasses both cyber and physical layers is proposed to model the system dynamics, adversaries, and the cybersecurity of the smart grid CPS. Typical CPS control applications, e.g. energy management system (EMS), are investigated in this project. To protect the data integrity and therefore protect the secure operation of the smart grid, a novel reputation-based trust management system is developed to detect and mitigate the data integrity attacks. In addition to data integrity, two privacy-preserving algorithms are proposed to secure the data confidentiality of the CPS, i.e. obfuscation-based and homomorphic encryption-based algorithms. Finally, a distributed DC microgrid testbed and large scale distributed computing system are built and configured to validate the proposed secure algorithms. The research outcomes have been published on 20+ reputable journals and conference proceedings. The accumulative impact factors of the published journal papers have reached 80+ and potentially will reach 100+ by mid-2021. The research outcomes have also been presented at 10+ conferences, 5 distinguished IEEE IES lectures, and 10+ seminar/keynote presentations. The project tasks have been designed to master independent research and Ph.D. thesis topics. With the project funding, the PI has trained two Ph.D. students and 4 master students.
Last Modified: 09/18/2020
Modified by: Mo-Yuen Chow
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