Title:  Dynamic State Estimation Based Protection Scheme for Cyber-attacks on Microgrids

Committee:

Dr. Sakis Meliopoulos, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Raheem Beyah, ECE

Dr. Maryam Saeedifard, ECE

Dr. Santiago Grijalva, ECE

Dr. Nagi Gebraeel, ISyE

Abstract: This dissertation mainly focuses on false data injection attacks, i.e., scenarios where a malicious actor manages to falsify system measurements aiming to confuse or trick either monitoring equipment or system operators regarding the system state and operation. By spoofing power system measurements, adversaries can give a false impression of the system operation and have legitimate control functions or people operating the system react by taking actions that severely disrupt a system that would otherwise operate properly. Here, a novel microgrid protection scheme is introduced to addresses such concerns by analyzing system measurements and identifying measurement falsification attempts within a microgrid. The proposed scheme is responsible for the supervision of all relays that monitor individual protection zones of the protected microgrid. In order to achieve its goal, it operates in a centralized manner by receiving and analyzing measurements recorded throughout the microgrid.