A name-based secure communication mechanism for smart grid employing wireless networks

With the rapid growth of the Internet, the current TCP/IP based network cannot well satisfy the requirements such as scalable content distribution, mobility, security and so on. The new networking architectures which aren't based on TCP/IP have been a trade of next generation networking such as Information-Centric Networking (ICN). In smart grid, parts of communication protocol in IEC 61850 are also not based on TCP/IP architecture such as Sampled Value (SV) and Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE). IEC 61850 based smart substation employing wireless network has significantly improved the interoperability and interconnection of substation devices. However, with the amount and openness growth of Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED) nodes, these changes introduce new efficiency, reliability and security challenges especially in wireless network. The strict time requirement has limited the use of heavyweight security protocols to fight against cyber- attacks. To address these issues, a name-based security mechanism using ICN is proposed for the non TCP/IP based SV and GOOSE communication. Publish/ subscribe (pub/sub) based access control and lightweight encryption algorithm are utilized to secure the decentralized large-scale smart grid data sharing. The results show the proposed mechanism is secure and efficient for IEC 61850 communication employing wireless network.