Patent ID: 11882002
Assignee: SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 4:
5. A method, comprising:
defining, via a software-defined network (SDN) controller, flow path rules for network communication between a plurality of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) in an SDN, including a time-window flow rule defined to disable a flow of packets associated with a target communication protocol during a defined time window;
setting the SDN in a testing mode that includes:
a first testing period during which a system time is artificially set to trigger the first time-window flow rule, and
a second testing period during which the system time is artificially set to not trigger the time-window flow rule;

inserting, during the first testing period, a first test packet within the SDN identified for delivery to a target IED in the SDN using a communication protocol other than the target communication protocol;
inserting, during the first testing period, a second test packet within the SDN that is identified for delivery to the target IED using the target communication protocol;
monitoring the first and second inserted test packets within the SDN;
validating functionality of the tested time-window flow rule in response to the first test packet being received by the target IED and the second test packet not being received by the target IED.