US-12621212-B2 - Power grid surveillance via topology detection system using power line communications

US12621212B2US 12621212 B2US12621212 B2US 12621212B2US-12621212-B2

Abstract

Power grid surveillance via topology detection system using power line communications (PLC) is provided by observing, at first and second times, first and second signals, respectively, sent via PLC between a plurality of nodes in an electrical grid; generating first and second lists for a given node of the plurality of nodes of channel impulses responses (CIRs) for the given node to communicate with other nodes in the plurality of nodes respectively based on the first and second signals as observed; identifying from the first list and the second list a certain node with a highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time; sending a first token for the given node from the given node to the certain node via PLC; and in response receiving a second token from the certain node at the given node, generating a topology change alert.

Inventors

Javier Hernandez Fernandez
Aymen Omri
Roberto DI PIETRO

Assignees

QATAR FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Iberdrola QSTP LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20230515

Claims (15)

1 . A method, comprising: observing, at a first time, first signals sent via Power Line Communication (PLC) between a plurality of nodes in an electrical grid; generating a first list for a given node of the plurality of nodes of first channel impulse responses (CIRs) for the given node to communicate with other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the first signals as observed; observing, at a second time subsequent to the first time, second signals sent via PLC between the plurality of nodes in the electrical grid; generating a second list for the given node of the plurality of nodes of second CIRs for the given node to communicate with the other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the second signals as observed; identifying from the first list and the second list a certain node with a highest variation in CIR with the given node between the first time and the second time; sending a first token for the given node from the given node to the certain node via PLC; and in response receiving a second token from the certain node at the given node, generating a topology change alert.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: ignoring or removing quiet nodes from the first list and the second list from the other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the quiet nodes are observed at the first time as having a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) below a threshold value.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, reducing channel estimation errors for each CIR between each pair of nodes in the plurality of nodes when generating a link power line identification (PL ID) for a given pair of nodes.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein inputs for determining a CIR include a time resolution, a quantization threshold, a number of observations, and a received signal.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time occurs in response to a changed node being added to the electrical grid between the given node and the certain node.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time occurs in response to a changed node being removed from the electrical grid between the given node and the certain node.
7 . A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory, including instructions that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising: observing, at a first time, first signals sent via Power Line Communication (PLC) between a plurality of nodes in an electrical grid; generating a first list for a given node of the plurality of nodes of first channel impulse responses (CIRs) for the given node to communicate with other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the first signals as observed; observing, at a second time subsequent to the first time, second signals sent via PLC between the plurality of nodes in the electrical grid; generating a second list for the given node of the plurality of nodes of second CIRs for the given node to communicate with the other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the second signals as observed; identifying from the first list and the second list a certain node with a highest variation in CIR with the given node between the first time and the second time; sending a first token for the given node from the given node to the certain node via PLC; and in response receiving a second token from the certain node at the given node, generating a topology change alert.
8 . The system of claim 7 , the operations further comprising: ignoring or removing quiet nodes from the first list and the second list from the other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the quiet nodes are observed at the first time as having a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) below a threshold value.
9 . The system of claim 7 , the operations further comprising, reducing channel estimation errors for each CIR between each pair of nodes in the plurality of nodes when generating a link power line identification (PL ID) for a given pair of nodes.
10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein inputs for determining a CIR include a time resolution, a quantization threshold, a number of observations, and a received signal.
11 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time occurs in response to a changed node being added to the electrical grid between the given node and the certain node.
12 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time occurs in response to a changed node being removed from the electrical grid between the given node and the certain node.
13 . A memory, including instructions that when executed by a processor perform operations comprising: observing, at a first time, first signals sent via Power Line Communication (PLC) between a plurality of nodes in an electrical grid; generating a first list for a given node of the plurality of nodes of first channel impulse responses (CIRs) for the given node to communicate with other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the first signals as observed; observing, at a second time subsequent to the first time, second signals sent via PLC between the plurality of nodes in the electrical grid; generating a second list for the given node of the plurality of nodes of second CIRs for the given node to communicate with the other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the second signals as observed; identifying from the first list and the second list a certain node with a highest variation in CIR with the given node between the first time and the second time; sending a first token for the given node from the given node to the certain node via PLC; and in response receiving a second token from the certain node at the given node, generating a topology change alert.
14 . The memory of claim 13 , the operations further comprising: ignoring or removing quiet nodes from the first list and the second list from the other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the quiet nodes are observed at the first time as having a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) below a threshold value.
15 . The memory of claim 13 , wherein the highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time occurs in response to a changed node being added to the electrical grid between the given node and the certain node.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present disclosure is a National Stage filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 of International Application No. PCT/QA2023/050006, filed May 15, 2023, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.: 63/364,758 filed on May 16, 2022, and entitled “POWER GRID SURVEILLANCE VIA TOPOLOGY DETECTION SYSTEM USING POWER LINE COMMUNICATIONS”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. BACKGROUND Power line communication (PLC) is currently one of the most popular telecommunications technologies for smart grids. The deployment of PLC-based smart grids enables two-way communication between the utility assets in a cost-efficient manner as it allows for the reuse of existing network infrastructure. PLC technology is mature, cost-effective, and has a wide range of applications such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), grid management, and energy loss detection. SUMMARY The present disclosure generally relates to a system and method for detecting changes in topology of a portion of a power grid. In particular, the present disclosure provides a distributed and fully channel impulse response (CIR) based algorithm to efficiently detect and identify topology changes in an electrical grid. In light of the present disclosure, and without limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way, in an aspect of the present disclosure, which may be combined with any other aspect listed herein unless specified otherwise, a computing system for detecting topology changes in an electrical grid is provided. The computing system includes one or more processors and a memory in communication with the one or more processors that stores instructions. The one or more processors are configured to execute the instructions to perform operations that include: observing, at a first time, first signals sent via Power Line Communication (PLC) between a plurality of nodes in an electrical grid; generating a first list for a given node of the plurality of nodes of first channel impulses responses (CIRs) for the given node to communicate with other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the first signals as observed; observing, at a second time subsequent to the first time, second signals sent via Power Line Communication (PLC) between the plurality of nodes in the electrical grid; generating a second list for the given node of the plurality of nodes of second CIRs for the given node to communicate with the other nodes in the plurality of nodes based on the second signals as observed; identifying from the first list and the second list a certain node with a highest variation in CIR between the first time and the second time; sending a first token for the given node from the given node to the certain node via PLC; and in response receiving a second token from the certain node at the given node, generating a topology change alert. In an aspect of the disclosure, the operations further include: ignoring or removing quiet nodes from the first list and the second list from the other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein the quiet nodes are observed at the first time as having a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) below a threshold value. In an aspect of the disclosure, the operations further include: reducing channel estimation errors for each CIR between each pair of nodes in the plurality of nodes when generating a link power line identification (PL ID) for a given pair of nodes. In an aspect of the disclosure, inputs for determining a CIR include a time resolution, a quantization threshold, a number of observations, and a received signal. The reader will appreciate the foregoing details, as well as others, upon considering the following detailed description of certain non-limiting embodiments including a system and method for detecting an abusive online content according to the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates an example power grid, according to aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 2A-2B illustrate algorithms as may be used for power grid surveillance, according to aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method for power grid surveillance, according to aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 illustrates physical components of an example computing device, according to aspects of the present disclosure DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure generally relates to a system, a method, and a computer readable storage device for detecting topology changes in an electrical grid. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a novel algorithm to detect changes in topology of an electrical grid via PLC is provided, which may be provided a method, a computer-readable storage device having instructions that are executable by a processor to perform the method, or a computing system having at least one processor and at least one memory including instructions executable by the processor to perform the meth