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CIMS©: Critical Infrastructure Modeling

Providing Infrastructure owners and decision makers a tool for consequence management and planning.

emergence of the Internet and

consolidated operating

systems, commercial infrastructures have become

increasingly automated and

interconnected. In fact, most

infrastructures are composed

of a collection of networks

each relying on the other to

function properly and provide

resources to the public.

For example, control systems

networks that operate the

electric power grid, including

Supervisory Control and Data

Acquisition (SCADA)

systems provide power to

other infrastructure systems

such as water treatment

facilities. When a deliberate

attack, natural disaster, or

The Problem

Massive natural disasters and

terrorist attacks often have a

detrimental impact on public

health, safety, and the

economy. When a disaster or

attack affects the nation’s

critical infrastructures such as

the electric power grid, water

treatment facilities, or

telecommunication systems, it

can hinder response and

recovery time, endanger lives,

and delay a return to normalcy.

Critical infrastructures are

complex physical and cyberbased systems that are

essential to the day-to-day

functionality of the country.

In the last decade, with the

accidental system failure

occurs at the power plant, it

can result in a complete or

partial shutdown of multiple

infrastructures affecting the

state or region.

Crucial to preparing, preventing, and recovering from such

an incident requires both

private utility and government

leaders to understand and

visualize the interconnectivity

and dependency that each

system has on one another. By

identifying which infrastructure affects the greatest

number of people, utility

companies, resource managers, and government agencies

CIMS is a 3D

interactive

modeling and

simulation

system

designed to

identify and

evaluate

emergent

behaviors that

result from

interdependencies between

infrastructure

components

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INL TECHNOLOGIES

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05-GA50193-94

For more information

INL is a U.S. Department of

Energy national laboratory

operated by Battelle Energy

Alliance

can develop a swift strategy

of prioritization for returning

each infrastructure to an

operational state.

INL’s Solution

Currently, government and

industry owner/operators do

not have robust and visual

methods, or cyber tools, to

identify interdependency

weaknesses and vulnerabilities to the critical portions of

their infrastructure. In

addition, they do not have a

visual, modeling tool that

assists them in determining

which critical infrastructure

networks are necessary to

perform, or continue, their

mission after damage or loss.

To meet this challenge,

researchers at Idaho National

Laboratory developed the

Critical Infrastructure Modeling System, or CIMS© to

examine the interrelationships

between infrastructure

networks. More specifically,

CIMS models the emergent

system behaviors that develop

when one or more nodes

within the system are damaged or destroyed.

The complex interconnections

and interdependencies of

infrastructures represent a

highly nonlinear and complex

system of systems. While

many well defined models

and simulations exist for

individual infrastructure

sectors such as electrical

power grid, transportation,

and computer networks very

few models exist that seek to

tie these infrastructures

together in a form representative of their actual implementation. Additionally, many of

these models present a

physics/engineering-based

approach and excel at individual sector analysis, yet

they do not necessarily

support high level command

and control.

CIMS© takes a systems

command level approach

seeking to provide decision

makers with sufficient

information in terms of

mission capability without

requiring detailed information

to support the engineering

level.

Often it is enough for a

decision maker to understand

that electrical power is on or

off via the amperage going

into a facility. In this way,

CIMS© models and simulates

infrastructures and the

interdependencies that exist

between them at the level

appropriate to the situation.

CIMS Key

Functionality

At the heart of CIMS is a

highly user centric tool that

allows decision maker to

build models on the fly. It

supports rapid model construction from sparse information. For example, utilizing a

simple map or aerial photo,

one can start construction of

an infrastructure model.

Information and intelligence

data can be added as it

becomes available, thus

creating an up to date view of

dynamic environments such

as those after a hurricane or

terrorist attack.

External data sources such as

web links including web-cam

or direct sensor feeds can

supplement static data

elements.

Specific functionality

includes:

• Ability to quickly construct infrastructure

models using map images,

satellite photos, and other

electronic images

• Ability to drill down and

extract / change information for individual infrastructure elements

• Graphical (3D) representation of key infrastructure

elements and the associated relationships

• Ability to model moving

entities (vehicles, plumes,

personnel response, etc...)

• Ability to create high

fidelity 3D models of

infrastructure elements (in

3D Studio MaxTM)

• Ability to link external

data sources including web

pages, image data, text

files, sensors, external

simulations etc...

• Input data files are text

files alleviate the need for

proprietary database.

Likewise data can easily

be translated from other

sources for input in the

model

Robert Timpany

(208) 526-6334

Robert.Timpany@inl.gov

Don Dudenhoeffer

(208) 526-0700

Don.Dudenhoeffer@inl.gov