Measurement System Timing Integrity in the Presence of Faults and Malicious Attacks

Precise timing within the power grid is of growing importance, facilitating sensing and monitoring to provide realtime situational awareness. This wide-area synchronization is performed through use of GNSS receivers, and is therefore susceptible to attacks as well as natural anomalies. Resiliency in the event of timing errors and attacks is crucial to ensuring reliability of the power grid, and supporting future advancements in automation and control. This work presents a framework aimed at practical deployment to existing and future sites within the power system, as well as other critical infrastructures where precise timing is relevant. We discuss the defense-in-depth scheme utilized to maximize the coverage surface, and individual metrics employed to detect GNSS attacks and errors, equipment malfunctions, and timing attacks via other surfaces such as malware and physical intrusion. A prototype system is developed and discussed, including implementation considerations. We analyze the effectiveness of the metrics against various threat sources, and provide preliminary results demonstrating detection capability against the TEXBAT spoofing dataset. These analysis and results bear testament to the robustness and capability of the system.