Design of a Co-Simulation Platform with Hardware-in-the-Loop for Cyber-attacks on Cyber-Physical Power Systems

This paper presents a real-time co-simulation platform with hardware-in-the-loop for performing cyberphysical power system (CPPS) analyses based on RT-LAB and OPNET software. The platform is capable of simulating a power grid and communication network while also reflecting the impact of actual devices and cyber-attacks on the power system. Furthermore, modelling and implementation method focused on man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks in a communication network is elaborated. A case study of MITM attack in a typical CPPS is demonstrated based on this platform. The simulation results validate the capability of the platform and also show the importance of considering the separate impacts of the communication system, actual devices and cyber-attack in power system simulations.