Security vs bandwidth : performance analysis between IPsec and OpenVPN in smart grid

Ghanem, Kinan and Ugwuanyi, Stephen and Hansawangkit, Jidapa and McPherson, Ross and Khan, Rabia and Irvine, James; (2022) Security vs bandwidth : performance analysis between IPsec and OpenVPN in smart grid. In: 2022 International Symposium on Networks, Computers and Communications, ISNCC 2022. 2022 International Symposium on Networks, Computers and Communications, ISNCC 2022 . IEEE, CHN. ISBN 9781665485449 (https://doi.org/10.1109/isncc55209.2022.9851717)

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Abstract

Secure wireless communication is an essential element of smart grid systems. This enables distributed industrial Internet of Things (IoT) assets to be remotely controlled and monitored from the control centre. In this piece of work, we evaluate the impact of employing OpenVPN and IPsec on the bandwidth required for the operation of distribution assets in next-generation substations Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) over IEC 61850-5-104. This analysis showed that OpenVPN added an average of 42 bytes to each packet inside the VPN tunnel, while Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) contributed an average overhead of 64 bytes. This demonstrated that employing IPsec would require more bandwidth than OpenVPN. Discussions on the reliability of wireless communication media for smart grid is also presented.