Quantum networks present a potent solution to secure microgrid communication in the quantum era. Efficient quantum network routing protocols play an important role in developing practical and resilient quantum network-based microgrids. In this paper, we make the following contributions: 1) establish lightweight-yet-holistic routing tables for scalable and low-latency quantum routing in microgrids; 2) devise efficient distributed local routing protocols for quantum network-enabled microgrids; and 3) integrate the devised protocols in a real-time QNetGrid testbed and evaluate their performance under different scenarios. Experiments validate the efficacy of the devised methods and provide insights for developing efficient quantum network routing for cyber-resilient microgrids,
Quantum networks present a potent solution to secure microgrid communication in the quantum era. Efficient quantum network routing protocols play an important role in developing practical and resilient quantum network-based microgrids. In this paper, we make the following contributions: 1) establish lightweight-yet-holistic routing tables for scalable and low-latency quantum routing in microgrids; 2) devise efficient distributed local routing protocols for quantum network-enabled microgrids; and 3) integrate the devised protocols in a real-time QNetGrid testbed and evaluate their performance under different scenarios. Experiments validate the efficacy of the devised methods and provide insights for developing efficient quantum network routing for cyber-resilient microgrids,
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.
To empower flexible and scalable operations, distributed control of multi-inverter microgrids, based on classical communication networks among distributed energy resources, has attracted considerable attention. Notwithstanding this, resilience of the current schemes on classical communication makes microgrids vulnerable to cyber attacks. Inspired by quantum properties of quantum bits, in this paper, we devise a novel synchronization mechanism. We extend the synchronization framework utilized in distributed control algorithms to networks of quantum systems. By employing the architecture of quantum network, security of the protocol can be enhanced. Test results on two representative ac and dc microgrids validate the efficacy and universality of the quantum distributed control.
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.
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.
To empower flexible and scalable operations, distributed control of multi-inverter microgrids, based on classical communication networks among distributed energy resources, has attracted considerable attention as it can guarantee synchronization and provide suitable remedies to the problem of improper power sharing. Notwithstanding this, resilience of the current schemes on classical communication makes microgrids vulnerable to cyber attacks. Inspired by recent revolutionary breakthroughs in quantum communication, in this paper, we devise a novel synchronization mechanism. We extend the synchronization framework utilized in distributed control algorithms to networks of quantum systems by generating pinning terms and coupling mechanism for the new synchronization rule via exploiting proper quantum jump operators and observables, and show that the quantum system will converge to a time-variant target state. Our devised quantum distributed controller (QDC) gives rise to a novel quantum communication scheme for distributed control of microgrids and enables microgrids to exploit the state-of-the-art quantum communication frameworks as communication infrastructure. Test results on two representative AC and DC networked microgrids validate the efficacy and universality of the quantum distributed control.
Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are redefining the energy generation landscape by enabling the deployment of modular, scalable, and pre-built power units that can be used to build distributed autonomous microgrids for critical infrastructure and burgeoning AI factories. Often, these microgrids are linked together to provide a resilient, decentralized power generation infrastructure. Consequently, the cybersecurity of microgrids is of critical importance. In this work, we propose a quantum augmented network framework for resilient microgrids. We integrate the ideas of secure quantum networking, quantum anonymous notification, and quantum random number generation to strengthen the integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of microgrid networks. To substantiate the possible benefits of using quantum augmented microgrids, we simulate a practical high-impact classical attack: a traffic analysis and priority-action spoofing campaign that can (1) deanonymize the anonymous notification for a high-priority action, (2) force excessive key usage, and (3) induce harmful allow/block operations at the control level. We quantify how these attacks affect information leakage, spoof acceptance, key sufficiency, and operational outcomes such as latency, deadline misses, unserved energy, etc. This quantum augmented microgrid (QuAM) framework lets us evaluate trade-offs between privacy, availability, and the operational cost of mitigation (cover traffic, verification delays, and key-rotation policies), further paving the path for the study of more nuanced attacks that arise due to the use of quantum-classical integrated frameworks.