With a commitment to safeguarding our nation’s most critical power assets in the coming age of quantum computing and networks, interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers from GE Global Research in Niskayuna, New York will lead three projects with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop advanced cyber-protection technologies that detect, locate, and neutralize attacks on critical power systems and assets.
GE scientists are aiming to build the world’s first industrial immune system that can detect, locate, and neutralize cyber threats just like the human immune system detects and acts to neutralize viruses that infect the body.
“We’re committed to building the world’s first industrial immune system that detects, locates, and neutralizes cyber threats just like the human immune system does with viruses that invade the body,” said Justin John, Technology Director, Controls and Optimization, GE Global Research.
“GE is doing this by combining the deep system insights of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins with industrial controls. GE’s digital twins, or digital models of physical assets and systems, allows cyber threats to be detected and located,” he added. “Industrial controls are the brain that automatically acts on the digital twin insights to neutralize a given threat.”
John noted that GE researchers have made substantial progress on an existing DOE cybersecurity program, in which they are developing advanced cyber protection technologies to protect electric power plants from cyber threats.
“What we’re creating is essentially an invisible presence, or ‘digital ghost,’ which watches over and monitors every part of a power system and is capable of changing the operation of that system to allow that system to safely operate through a cyber-attack,” he said.
With the three new project awards, GE, together with the National Labs and a host of key industry and academic partners, will further develop advanced cyber technology solutions while also expanding application of these protections to wind power installations and natural gas systems. “With each of these new projects, we have the right set of partners to not only accelerate new developments but also to test them in the field,” he said.
The three new project highlights are available here. Here is the one for wind energy:
$4.8 MM: DOE cyber-physical resilience for wind power
Fernando D’Amato, a Senior Principal Engineer at Global Research will lead a project team, working with GE Renewable Energy, Idaho National Labs and Invenergy to develop new commercially viable and field-tested cyber protection technologies for wind power generation systems that are effective against attacks on the control systems of wind turbines.
Fernando D’Amato, a Senior Principal Engineer at Global Research will lead a project team, working with GE Renewable Energy, Idaho National Labs and Invenergy to develop new commercially viable and field-tested cyber protection technologies for wind power generation systems that are effective against attacks on the control systems of wind turbines.
Wind power is on a fast growth trajectory. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, it is expected to surpass hydropower as the largest renewable energy generation source this year. As part of this project, Global Research and its partners will be developing a variety of new adaptive defense technologies that enable wind-power generation systems to survive sophisticated cyberattacks by enhancing the control systems capabilities of detection, localization and accommodation.
The introduction of these technologies in the on-shore and the emerging off-shore market would result in a significantly more reliable and secure wind power infrastructure. The technologies being developed will combine advanced machine learning and control algorithms that are tied to rigorous physics-based models to detect, locate and mitigate cyberattacks. The algorithms will be implemented and validated at a wind-turbine testing site.
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