Distributed meter data aggregation framework based on Blockchain and homomorphic encryption

• Published in: IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory & Applications Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 30 - 37
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuxuan, Luo, Fengji, Dong, Zhaoyang, Tong, Ziyuan, Qiao, Yichen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Southampton The Institution of Engineering and Technology 01.03.2019; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Algebra; Algorithms; Blockchain; Byzantine fault tolerance algorithm; Communication; complex cyber-physical systems; Cryptography; data aggregation; Data encryption; Data management; data privacy; Digital signatures; distributed meter data aggregation framework; distributed privacy-preserving; Energy consumption; Fault tolerance; fault tolerant computing; fundamental physical infrastructure; hierarchical Blockchain system; homomorphic encryption; individual meter data items; information security; meter data aggregation process; modern power grids; power engineering computing; power grids; power system security; Privacy; real-time energy consumption information; secure meter data; smart meter; Smart meters; smart power grids; Special Issue: Cyber-Physical Systems for Power Distribution Systems; Technology assessment; smart meter; fault tolerance; distributed privacy-preserving; smart power grids; information security; cryptography; hierarchical Blockchain system; data aggregation; power engineering computing; meter data aggregation process; power system security; fundamental physical infrastructure; Byzantine fault tolerance algorithm; real-time energy consumption information; smart meters; complex cyber-physical systems; homomorphic encryption; modern power grids; distributed meter data aggregation framework; individual meter data items; fault tolerant computing; data privacy; power grids; secure meter data
• ISSN: 2398-3396; 2398-3396
• DOI: 10.1049/iet-cps.2018.5054

A significant progress in modern power grids is witnessed by the tendency of becoming complex cyber-physical systems. As a fundamental physical infrastructure, smart meter in the demand side provides real-time energy consumption information to the utility. However, ensuring information security and privacy in the meter data aggregation process is a non-trivial task. This study proposes a distributed, privacy-preserving, and secure meter data aggregation framework, backed up by Blockchain and homomorphic encryption (HE) technologies. Meter data are aggregated and verified by a hierarchical Blockchain system, in which the consensus mechanism is supported by the practical Byzantine fault tolerance algorithm. On the top of the Blockchain system, HE technology is used to protect the privacy of individual meter data items during the aggregation process. Performance analysis is conducted to validate the proposed method.