PMU placement in electric transmission networks for reliable state estimation against false data injection attacks

Currently the false data injection (FDI) attack bring direct challenges in synchronized phase measurement unit (PMU) based network state estimation in wide-area measurement system, resulting in degraded system reliability and power supply security. This paper assesses the performance of state estimation in electric cyber-physical system paradigm considering the presence of FDI attacks. The adverse impact on network state estimation is evaluated through simulations for a range of FDI attack scenarios using IEEE 14-bus network model. In addition, an algorithmic solution is proposed to address the issue of additional PMU installation and placement with cyber security consideration and evaluated for a set of standard electric transmission networks (IEEE 14-bus, 30-bus, and 57-bus network). The numerical result confirms that the FDI attack can significantly degrade the state estimation and the cyber security can be improved by an appropriate placement of a limited number of additional PMUs.