Home area network accountability with varying consumption devices in smart grid

Abstract

Among the principals for securing smart grid infrastructure, accountability is one with lesser addressed concepts in smart grid literature. Even further, studies in the home area network are lacking in enforcement of accountable mechanisms as assigning responsibilities for devices' actions are generally made the responsibility of the utility. This paper addresses accountability of devices in the home area network by providing a witness-based method for more accurate monitoring and estimation of the energy usage for devices whose power consumption varies while these devices are powered on. Algorithm analysis and simulation results show that the method is effective, and the method is well within the acceptable rate of error based on today's standards of estimation without need of previous knowledge of device profiles.