Open Cyber-Architecture for Electrical Energy Markets M. Yuksel * , K. Bekris * , C. Y. Evrenosoglu † , M. H. Gunes * , S. Fadali † , M. Etezadi-Amoli † , and F. Harris * * CSE Department, University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV 89557. † EBME Department, University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV 89557. {yuksem, bekris}@cse.unr.edu, cevrenosoglu@unr.edu, mgunes@cse.unr.edu, {fadali,etezadi}@unr.edu, fredh@cse.unr.edu Abstract—Automated control and management of large-scale physical systems is a challenging problem in a wide variety of applications including: power grids, transportation networks, and telecommunication networks. Such systems require (i) data collection, (ii) secure data transfer to processing centers, (iii) data processing, and (iv) timely decision making and control actions. These tasks are complicated by the vast amount of data, the distributed sources of data, and the need for efficient data communication. In addition, large physical systems are often subdivided into separately owned subsystems. This multi- owner structure imposes physical, economic, market, and political constraints on the data transfer. These divisions make systems vulnerable to potential coordinated attacks. Defending against such attacks requires the infrastructures to be more automated and self-healing. Motivated by the challenge of a more efficient, secure and robust power grid, which is less vulnerable to blackouts due to cascaded events, this paper discusses some of the fundamental problems in designing future cyber-physical systems. Index Terms—Cyber-Physical Systems; Smart Grid; Auto- mated Control; Multi-Owner Infrastructures; Secure Commu- nication I. I NTRODUCTION Automated control of large-scale physical systems is a chal- lenging problem faced by scientists and engineers in a wide variety of applications including: power grids, transportation networks, and telecommunication networks. The problem re- quires (i) data collection, (ii) secure data transfer to processing centers, (iii) data processing, and (iv) timely decision making and control actions. These tasks are complicated by the vast amount of data, the distributed sources of the data and the need for efficient data communication. The large physical systems are often subdivided into separately owned subsystems which impose physical, economic, market, and political constraints on data transfer. Further, most large-scale physical systems have multiple owners, and these series of challenges have to take place over a set of domains imposing market constraints. These challenges are emphasized for large-scale infrastructure systems where seamless system operation is crucial. In addi- tion, potential coordinated attacks require the infrastructures to be more automated and self-healing. [1] Though examples of such large-scale multi-owner infrastructure systems are many, we focus on the power grid in this paper. We propose an “Open Cyber-Architecture” (OCA) that enables automated control of multi-owner large-scale infras- tructure systems through smart networked substructures. Our proposed architecture promotes information sharing among system owners through a secure information communication and processing paradigm which assures only minimal infor- mation sharing. To overcome market inefficiencies, such open sharing of technical information partially takes place in some existing large-scale infrastructures such as the Internet. Our contribution is using optimum information sharing among smart substructures which will filter proprietary information belonging to other owners. We also propose to investigate real- time visualization techniques that will allow human operators to efficiently intervene when necessary or if the owner desires to implement a new policy. The OCA is centered around the following distinctive features: (a) Highly-dynamic communication protocols, which allow for an adaptive monitoring system that is responsive to changes in the physical environment. (b) Distributed AI algorithms, that provide early autonomous detection of pos- sible catastrophic events, such as cascading of failures in the physical infrastructure, and an autonomous response to such situations. (c) Study of the effects of real but often ignored parameters, such as market constraints, on the autonomous operation of large-scale cyber-infrastructures. (d) Blind com- munication protocols for cyber-physical systems of competing entities, which do not disclose information to human partici- pant of the financial markets. (e) Decentralized control under market constraints. (f) Importance-based visualization tools that empower human operators of large-scale infrastructures. Our inspiration for OCA stems from the power grid which is a crucial infrastructure that has all the characteristics of the multi-owner large-scale physical systems. It has become clear that the power grid needs decentralization of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) systems so as to have more efficient, secure and robust information exchange. The existing cyber-architecture in the power grid provides limited information exchange among domain own- ers due to energy market constraints and trust boundaries. This “closed” cyber-architecture makes it difficult to detect potential problems and can lead to catastrophic failures [2] [3] [4] [5]. The OCA focuses on a better grid performance with increased information exchange while respecting the wholesale