Hybrid Digital Twin Architecture for Power System Cyber Security Analysis

This paper presents a world-first highly configurable, low cost and scalable hybrid digital twin (HDT) established using single board computers to mimic the smart grid physical components and communication network with high fidelity. The HDT system emulates the smart grid cyber-physical system using MATLAB-SIMULINK model (digital) and single board computers (physical). The HDT architecture and communication system design including the network segmentation using configurable network switch and communication protocol using Node-Redis described in detail. The performance of the HDT communication system in terms of round trip time between the digital and physical models and within network components in the physical model is also studied. The development of the HDT will provide a new platform to study the cyber-security vulnerabilities in smart grids and other cyber-physlcal systems.