Robust Software-Defined Optical Networking for the Power Grid

The operation of smart power grids will depend on a reliable and flexible communication infrastructure for monitoring and control. Software defined networking (SDN) is emerging as a promising control platform, facilitating network programmability and bandwidth flexibility. We study SDN optical transmission reliability for smart grid applications. We identify the collaboration of the control plane and the data plane in software-defined optical transmission systems as a cyber-physical interdependency where the 'physical' fiber network provides the 'cyber' control network with means to distribute control and signaling messages and in turn is itself operated by these 'cyber' control messages. We examine the robustness of such an interdependent communication system and quantify the advantages of optical layer reconfigurability.