Quantum key distribution (QKD) has been considered a potent and mature approach to secure communication in the quantum era. However, there exist resilience gaps that hinder the practical usefulness of QKD. This paper improves the resilience of a QKD-based microgrid by leveraging software-defined networking (SDN). Specifically, the following contributions have been made: 1) a novel QKD- and SDN-based communication framework is devised for microgrids; 2) an enhanced QKD simulator (QKDS+) is developed, which can simulate both the number of generated keys and the amount of classical data required, providing a more accurate QKD study in microgrids; 3) an SDN-based resilience enhancement strategy, which incorporates three practical SDN applications, is developed to improve the system's resilience; and 4) a QKD- and SDN-enabled cyber-physical microgrid prototype is built in an RTDS environment using real whitebox SDN switches. Extensive case studies validate the effectiveness and excellent performance of SDN to improve the resilience of QKD-based microgrids in various situations.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) has been considered a potent and mature approach to secure communication in the quantum era. However, there exist resilience gaps that hinder the practical usefulness of QKD. This paper improves the resilience of a QKD-based microgrid by leveraging software-defined networking (SDN). Specifically, the following contributions have been made: 1) a novel QKD- and SDN-based communication framework is devised for microgrids; 2) an enhanced QKD simulator (QKDS+) is developed, which can simulate both the number of generated keys and the amount of classical data required, providing a more accurate QKD study in microgrids; 3) an SDN-based resilience enhancement strategy, which incorporates three practical SDN applications, is developed to improve the system's resilience; and 4) a QKD- and SDN-enabled cyber-physical microgrid prototype is built in an RTDS environment using real whitebox SDN switches. Extensive case studies validate the effectiveness and excellent performance of SDN to improve the resilience of QKD-based microgrids in various situations.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides a potent solution to securely distribute keys for two parties. However, QKD itself is vulnerable to denial of service (DoS) attacks. A flexible and resilient QKD-enabled networked microgrids (NMs) architecture is needed but does not yet exist. In this article, we present a programmable quantum NMs (PQNMs) architecture. It is a novel framework that integrates both QKD and software-defined networking (SDN) techniques capable of enabling scalable, programmable, quantum-engineered, and ultra-resilient NMs. Equipped with a software-defined adaptive post-processing approach, a two-level key pool sharing strategy and an SDN-enabled event-triggered communication scheme, these PQNMs mitigate the impact of DoS attacks through programmable post-processing and secure key sharing among QKD links, a capability unattainable using existing technologies. Through comprehensive evaluations, we validate the benefits of PQNMs and demonstrate the efficacy of the presented strategies under various circumstances. Extensive results provide insightful resources for building QKD-enabled NMs in practice.
Existing microgrid communication relies on classical public key systems, which are vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers. This paper uses quantum key distribution (QKD) to solve these quantum-era microgrid challenges. Specifically, this paper makes the following novel contributions: 1) it devises a novel QKD simulator capable of simulating QKD protocols; 2) it offers a QKD-based microgrid communication architecture for microgrids; 3) it shows how to build a quantum-secure microgrid testbed in an RTDS environment; 4) it develops a key pool sharing (KPS) strategy to improve the cyberattack resilience of the QKD-based microgrid; and 5) it analyzes the impacts of critical QKD parameters with the testbed. Test results provide insightful resources for building a quantum-secure microgrid.
The classical key distribution systems used for data transmission in networked microgrids (NMGs) rely on mathematical assumptions, which however can be broken by attacks from quantum computers. This paper addresses this quantum-era challenge by using quantum key distribution (QKD). Specifically, the novelty of this paper includes 1) a QKD-enabled communication architecture it devises for NMGs, 2) a real-time QKD- enabled NMGs testbed it builds in an RTDS environment, and 3) a novel two-level key pool sharing (TLKPS) strategy it designs to improve the system resilience against cyberattacks. Test results validate the effectiveness of the presented strategy, and provide insightful resources for building quantum-secure NMGs.
Quantum networks are considered to be the future of secure communication in the coming quantum era. However, significant efforts are lacking on developing practical quantum networks for power grids. This paper establishes a quantum network-based power grid (QNetGrid) framework and develops a real-time, reliable, flexible, programmable, and cost-effective QNetGrid software testbed containing repeater-based quantum communication, quantum routing, real software-defined networking (SDN) switches, and real-time networked microgrids (NMs) operations. It makes the following contributions: 1) a repeater and routing based quantum network simulator (QNSim) is developed, 2) repeaters with and without quantum memories are respectively simulated in QNSim, 3) different routing scenarios in QNetGrid are investigated, 4) a real-time QNetGrid software testbed is built in RTDS incorporating QNSim and real SDN switches, and 5) various test cases are designed, and experimental results produced with the QNetGrid testbed provide valuable insights for building quantum networks in power grids.
Software-defined networking (SDN) has emerged as a promising paradigm for managing and controlling network resources efficiently. However, ensuring the security of data packets transmitted within an SDN environment remains a critical challenge. Traditional networking relies on static configurations, while SDN offers dynamic control and programmability, revolutionizing network management. In SDN, the application layer employs tools like OpenDaylight and Mininet for network management and testing. The control layer, managed by controllers such as Floodlight or ONOS, orchestrates traffic flow among switches. In the infrastructure layer, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with the BB84 protocol ensures secure communication. Together, these layers enable agile, programmable, and secure networking paradigms. This paper proposes integrating quantum key distribution (QKD) into SDN architectures to bolster packet-level security. By leveraging quantum entanglement and uncertainty, a secure communication channel between SDN controllers and switches is established, resilient to quantum attacks. Evaluation through simulations and real-world experiments demonstrates efficacy in mitigating security threats while minimizing overhead and latency, advancing SDN security IEEE 802.1X capabilities and leveraging quantum technologies for cybersecurity.
As an important support for quantum communication, quantum key distribution (QKD) networks have achieved a relatively mature level of development, and they face higher requirements for multi-user end-to-end networking capabilities. Thus, QKD networks need an effective management plane to control and coordinate with the QKD resources. As a promising technology, software defined networking (SDN) can separate the control and management of QKD networks from the actual forwarding of the quantum keys. This paper systematically introduces QKD networks enabled by SDN, by elaborating on its overall architecture, related interfaces, and protocols. Then, three-use cases are provided as important paradigms with their corresponding schemes and simulation performances.