Inferring Power Grid Information with Power Line Communications: Review and Insights

TL;DR

This paper reviews how power line communication technologies are used to infer grid conditions, focusing on applications like topology inference, anomaly detection, and cybersecurity, and discusses future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive classification, literature review, and insights into PLC-based grid information inference, highlighting current limitations and future challenges.

Findings

PLC enables grid topology inference, anomaly detection, and cybersecurity.

Current research faces limitations in real-time application and robustness.

Future directions include enhancing signal processing and system integration.

Abstract

High-frequency signals were widely studied in the last decade to identify grid and channel conditions in power lines. PLMs operating on the grid's physical layer are capable of transmitting such signals to infer information about the medium. When applied to the electrical grid, one of the key advantages of PLC is its capacity to use signals to provide information about the grid itself. This makes PLC an ideal communication technology for smart grid applications, particularly in the realms of grid monitoring and surveillance. In this paper, we focus on PLC grid information inference and provide several contributions: a classification of PLC-based applications, a review of the relevant literature, and insights to further advance the field. Our research identified contributions addressing PLMs for three main grid information inference applications: topology inference, anomaly detection, and grid cybersecurity. We utilize the outcome of our review to shed light on the current limitations of the research contributions and suggest future research directions in this field.