Cybersecurity Considerations for Power Substation SCADA Systems Using IEC-61850 Communications
Securing Legacy SCADA Systems Against Cyber Threats
There are numerous cyber threats and vulnerabilities announced almost daily with warnings across this country directed at our energy and critical infrastructure sectors from various organizations, such as: FBI, DHS, NSA, DOD, DOE, FERC, NERC, CISA, USCYBERCOM, and many more… These warnings have been directed specifically towards the power utility sector as being very vulnerable towards future cyber threats.
For the electric power industry and other service sectors, Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA) has performed a crucial role by allowing better decision making through operating, controlling, monitoring and maintaining critical control systems.
With Smart Grid (SG) and Distributed Generation (DG) gaining more popularity results in more 3rd party stakeholders demanding access to utilities’ SCADA system. Some utility SCADA systems are older legacy systems that are in dire need of replacing in order to have: a more secure system, access to the latest vendor security patch updates, and to allow for better functionality, etc.
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One Utility That Implemented Smart Grid to Improve Electric Reliability and Much More
Electric power has evolved from a simple need to a major necessity. Everyday we rely more and more on electricity to do just about everything. When the lights go out, its not just a major inconvenience, but a catastrophe in some cases. A major focus for power distribution utilities is to deliver reliable power to its customers safely and at the lowest possible cost.
Newer state-of-the-art, digital devices are making it possible to achieve near perfect power reliability while offering more monitoring and control functionality of electric grids. Smarter grids are evolving with improved and faster automation systems, working in harmony with: IEDs, SCADA, FLISR, AMI, AMR, DMS, EMS, OMS, etc.
Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB) is one utility that has led the way in this effort.
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Good Electrical CAD Drafting and Electrical Design Tips
Its always important to utilize best design and CAD drafting practices when involved in creating design drawings for various industries, such as: utilities, industrial, commercial, residential, and others. Performing CAD designs for drawings in separate disciplines can be modified or created with different software package suites, like: AutoCAD, Revit, MicroStation, SolidWorks, Visio, etc. These electronic CAD tools help make the CAD designers’ job easier and still requires self-checking and reviews from the CAD operator for ensuring the highest quality and accuracy.
These drafting and design practice tips explained here can help improve your CAD drawings’ clarity and accuracy, including saving you time and efforts in preventing rework and redraws.
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Basic Summary of How the Electric Power Grid Works?
Many wonder exactly how the electric power grid works from generation to transmission to distribution and to the end users. There is more to electricity than simply turning on a light switch. Electric power has given us many conveniences and has improved our quality of life forever more, sometimes more than we can imagine. This provides a basic explanation of the electric power grid.
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University of Tennessee of Chattanooga’s College of Engineering and Computer Science Curriculum Has Improved!
UTC’s College of Engineering and Computer Science has provided excellent academics through research and innovation with the goal and mission of developing exceptional engineers, computer scientists and technologists.
Nearly two decades ago, their were only a few accredited electrical engineering universities in the State of Tennessee, like: Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville, TN), Memphis State (now University of Memphis), Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), and University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN).
UTC was not included in this list above back then but they have come a long way with major donations and improvements over the years to today becoming one of Tennessee’s top engineering schools for electrical engineering.
This is why 3 Phase Associates recommends UTC’s College of Engineering and Computer Science for students pursuing an electrical engineering degree.