Vulnerability of Smart Grid-enabled Protection Relays to IEMI
Creators: name: Arduini, Fernando
name: Lanzrath, Marian
name: Ghosalkar, Samikshya
name: Nateghi, Arash
name: Fisahn, Sven
name: Schaarschmidt, Martin
Publisher: name: Göttingen : Copernicus Publications
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Automation
subject: Data acquisition
subject: Electric power system control
subject: Electric power system protection
subject: Electric power transmission
subject: Electric substations
subject: Electromagnetic compatibility
subject: Electromagnetic pulse
subject: Horn antennas
subject: Power transformers
subject: Relay protection
subject: Risk analysis
subject: Risk assessment
subject: Software testing
subject: Thermoelectric equipment
subject: Transformer protection
subject: Automatic control systems
subject: Communications systems
subject: Electricity sector
subject: Electronics devices
subject: Intentional electromagnetic interferences
subject: Power
subject: Protection relay
subject: Safety issues
subject: Smart electronics
subject: Smart grid
subject: Smart power grids
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik::620 | Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::500 | Naturwissenschaften::550 | Geowissenschaften

description: The electricity sector has been undergoing transformations towards the smart grid concept, which aims to improve the robustness, efficiency, and flexibility of the power system. This transition has been achieved by the introduction of smart electronic devices (SEDs) and advanced automatic control and communication systems. Despite the benefits of such modernization, safety issues have emerged with significant concern by experts and entities worldwide. One of these issues is known as Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI), where offenders employ high-power electromagnetic sources to maliciously disrupt or damage electronic devices. One of the possible gateways for IEMI attacks targeting the smart grids is the microprocessor-based protection relays. On the one hand, the malfunctioning of these devices can lead to equipment damage, including high-voltage equipment (e.g., power transformers), which represent one of the most high-cost items of energy infrastructure. On the other hand, a possible misleading triggering of these devices could cause cascading effects along the various nodes of the power system, resulting in widespread blackouts. Thus, this study presents the possible recurring effects of IEMI exposure of a typical protection relay used in smart grid substations as part of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system. For this purpose, a test setup containing a smart grid protective unit, a monitoring box, and the device's wiring harness is exposed to radiated IEMI threats with high-power narrowband signals using a TEM waveguide and horn antennas. The effects during the test campaigns are observed by means of an IEMI-hardened camera system and a software developed to real-time monitor the device's fibre optic communication link, which is established according to the IEC 60870-5-105 protocol. The results revealed failures ranging from display deviation to various types of protection relay shutdown. Moreover, the consequences of the identified failures in a power substation are discussed to feed into a risk analysis regarding the threat of IEMI to power infrastructures.