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Impact analysis of cyber-attack on MMC–HVDC control system with countermeasures

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Abstract

With the involvement of cyber-infrastructure, the power grids are susceptible to cyber-attacks, whose consequences can be alarming, especially during attacks on control units. Due to utilizing several control units, the vulnerability of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems to cyber-attacks can be severe. Hence, this paper aims to analyze the impacts of cyber-attacks on the well-known modular multilevel converter (MMC) HVDC transmission technology for a smart grid with countermeasures. The ramifications of the false data injection attacks on different control units of the control system of MMC–HVDC are evaluated individually, while introducing the system’s vulnerabilities from the control parameters’ perspective for voltage controller, current controller, and phase-locked loop. Both positively and negatively biased attacks are considered during investigating the impacts of the false data injection attacks on the controller parameters of the MMC–HVDC transmission system, which can be severe. Hence, a controlled switching unit is proposed as a countermeasure for developing an attack-resilient system. Based on the experimental results using MATLAB/Simulink, the proposed protective system ensures the stable operation of a two-terminal MMC–HVDC transmission system of a wind farm effectively during cyber-attacks. The proposed controlled switching unit-based countermeasure can serve as a guide for attack-resilient applications of MMC-based systems.

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The data used in this work are confidential

Abbreviations

CCSC:

Circulating current suppression controller

CPS:

Cyber-physical system

CSU:

Controlled switching unit

DRES:

Distributed renewable energy sources

FDI:

False data injection

HBSM:

Half-bridge sub-module

HVDC:

High-voltage direct current

ICT:

Information and communication technologies

MMC:

Modular multilevel converter

NCS:

Networked control system

PCC:

Point of common coupling

PI:

Proportional–integral

PID:

Proportional–integral–derivative

PLL:

Phase-locked loop

SM:

Sub-modules

SRF-PLL:

Synchronous reference frame phase-locked loop

WPGS:

Wind power generation station

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Author notes

  1. Anupom Devnath and M. A. Rahman have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi-do, 17104, Republic of Korea

    Anupom Devnath

  2. Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul, 04066, Republic of Korea

    M. A. Rahman

  3. Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, 6204, Bangladesh

    M. S. Rana

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  1. Anupom Devnath
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  3. M. S. Rana
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Contributions

AD: Conceptualization, Research, Writing-Drafting and Editing. MAR: Conceptualization, Research, Writing-Drafting and Editing. MSR: Supervision,Review

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Correspondence to M. A. Rahman.

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Devnath, A., Rahman, M.A. & Rana, M.S. Impact analysis of cyber-attack on MMC–HVDC control system with countermeasures. Int. J. Dynam. Control (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40435-023-01313-3

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