Investigating the Possibilities for Simulation of the Interconnected Electric Power and Communication Infrastructures

Abstract

In recent years, we have seen an increasing dependency between different urban critical infrastructures, which raises the demands on their analysis and cybersecurity. Current open-source solutions do not provide simulations of interconnected data networks and power grids, which are essential for analysing of both infrastructures weak parts and reducing the risk of emerging threats. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a simulation platform that provides this type of simulation to customers using the virtual user interface. The paper describes the development of a complex model of interconnected power and data infrastructures. Created virtualization platform that consists of several open-source tools is described in detail. Outputs of this paper can be used for analysis of critical infrastructures at the level of urban networks.