An Ultra-Lightweight and Secure Scheme for Communications of Smart Meters and Neighborhood Gateways by Utilization of an ARM Cortex-M Microcontroller

Modernization of the traditional electrical grid has become achievable by the emergence of innovative smart grid technology. The main contribution of this new technology is the bidirectional flow of information. The smart meters (SMs) send the usage reports to the power operator and also some instructions are sent from the power operator in order to be executed by the SMs. In between, there exist some gateways which are responsible for data aggregation. Here, we aim at the communications of SMs and neighborhood gateways. On one hand, the presented communication scheme must consider the need for consumption reports transmission in short time intervals, and on the other hand, it must consider both security and the constrained resources of SMs. To this end, in this paper, using only the hash and Exclusive-OR operations, we propose an extremely lightweight communication scheme that not only provides the security requirements, but also can cope with one-minute or even less time intervals of data transmission while putting the least burden on the SMs resources. Our comparative analysis demonstrates substantial reduction in storage space and computational complexity. More importantly, our formal verification using the ProVerif tool and implementation on an ARM microcontroller confirm our claim.

[1]  Murtuza Jadliwala,et al.  Seer Grid: Privacy and Utility Implications of Two-Level Load Prediction in Smart Grids , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems.

[2]  Nei Kato,et al.  A Lightweight Message Authentication Scheme for Smart Grid Communications , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

[3]  Debiao He,et al.  Privacy-preserving data aggregation scheme against internal attackers in smart grids , 2016, Wirel. Networks.

[4]  Morteza Nikooghadam,et al.  A lightweight authentication and key agreement protocol preserving user anonymity , 2017, Multimedia Tools and Applications.

[5]  Josep Domingo-Ferrer,et al.  TPP: Traceable Privacy-Preserving Communication and Precise Reward for Vehicle-to-Grid Networks in Smart Grids , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security.

[6]  Hafiz Farooq Ahmad,et al.  A lightweight message authentication scheme for Smart Grid communications in power sector , 2016, Comput. Electr. Eng..

[7]  Hamid Sharif,et al.  A Survey on Cyber Security for Smart Grid Communications , 2012, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[8]  Klara Nahrstedt,et al.  Secure and Scalable Data Collection With Time Minimization in the Smart Grid , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

[9]  Xi Fang,et al.  3. Full Four-channel 6.3-gb/s 60-ghz Cmos Transceiver with Low-power Analog and Digital Baseband Circuitry 7. Smart Grid — the New and Improved Power Grid: a Survey , 2022 .

[10]  Chun-I Fan,et al.  Privacy-Enhanced Data Aggregation Scheme Against Internal Attackers in Smart Grid , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics.

[11]  Nei Kato,et al.  Toward secure targeted broadcast in smart grid , 2012, IEEE Commun. Mag..

[12]  Chris Develder,et al.  Combining Power and Communication Network Simulation for Cost-Effective Smart Grid Analysis , 2014, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[13]  Weihua Zhuang,et al.  Stochastic Information Management in Smart Grid , 2014, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[14]  Morteza Nikooghadam,et al.  An efficient and secure authentication and key agreement scheme for session initiation protocol using ECC , 2014, Multimedia Tools and Applications.

[15]  Morteza Nikooghadam,et al.  On the Security of a Two-Factor Authentication and Key Agreement Scheme for Telecare Medicine Information Systems , 2015, Journal of Medical Systems.

[16]  D. P. O'Connell,et al.  Digital energy metering for electrical system management , 2010, SAC '10.

[17]  Lalit Mohan Saini,et al.  Performance analysis of smart metering for smart grid: An overview , 2015 .

[18]  Tao Jiang,et al.  A Lightweight Authenticated Communication Scheme for Smart Grid , 2016, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[19]  Hamid Sharif,et al.  A Survey on Smart Grid Communication Infrastructures: Motivations, Requirements and Challenges , 2013, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[20]  Xuemin Shen,et al.  An Efficient Merkle-Tree-Based Authentication Scheme for Smart Grid , 2014, IEEE Systems Journal.

[21]  Anno Accademico,et al.  Smart Grid Communications: Overview of research challenges, solutions and standardization activities , 2013 .

[22]  Douglas R. Stinson,et al.  Cryptography: Theory and Practice , 1995 .

[23]  Yang Xiao,et al.  Cyber Security and Privacy Issues in Smart Grids , 2012, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[24]  Yasin Kabalci,et al.  A survey on smart metering and smart grid communication , 2016 .

[25]  Nirwan Ansari,et al.  The Progressive Smart Grid System from Both Power and Communications Aspects , 2012, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[26]  H. T. Mouftah,et al.  Energy-Efficient Information and Communication Infrastructures in the Smart Grid: A Survey on Interactions and Open Issues , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[27]  Atef Abdrabou,et al.  A Wireless Communication Architecture for Smart Grid Distribution Networks , 2016, IEEE Systems Journal.

[28]  Mohammad E. Khodayar,et al.  Resilient Operation of Multiple Energy Carrier Microgrids , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

[29]  Xiaohui Liang,et al.  UDP: Usage-Based Dynamic Pricing With Privacy Preservation for Smart Grid , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

[30]  Nirwan Ansari,et al.  Decentralized Controls and Communications for Autonomous Distribution Networks in Smart Grid , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.