Design Principles and Experimental Analysis of Secure Data Exchange Approaches for Distributed Cyber-Physical Sensors in Electric Grid Systems

Design Principles and Experimental Analysis of Secure Data Exchange Approaches for Distributed Cyber-Physical Sensors in Electric Grid Systems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Design Principles and Experimental Analysis of Secure Data Exchange Approaches for Distributed Cyber-Physical Sensors in Electric Grid Systems Patricia Cordeiro, Adrian Chavez, Alex Reyna, Shamina Hossain McKenzie, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7485089/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Energy Informatics → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Critical infrastructure systems such as the electric grid are increasingly cyber-physical, where communication and control are tightly intertwined with the physics-based processes of power flow. To ensure safe and resilient operation of these cyber-physical systems, a variety of sensors and analyses are required for monitoring and detection of abnormal or malicious behavior to achieve full cyber-physical situational awareness (CPSA). A diverse set of sensors are needed across interconnected systems of systems to achieve CPSA that collect different types of data at different time-scales, volume, and levels of sensitivity. To share this collected data with different analysis platforms, whether intrusion detection systems or state estimation algorithms, secure data exchange is essential. Designing secure data exchange across interconnected systems of systems (SoS) can be challenging without considering unique characteristics of the underlying cyber and physical processes. For example, in the electric power grid, it is important to consider the types of communication protocols, frequency of communications, and types of control schemes alongside the physics-based processes of power flow and types of measurements such as voltage, frequency, and current. In prior work, these important considerations were explored for heterogenous sensors, networks, and data types and several secure data exchange approaches were presented. In this paper, we build upon that research and provide design principles and experimental results for secure and resilient data exchange across distributed sensors and analytics in decentralized, cyber-physical energy systems. cyber-physical situational awareness distributed sensors systems of systems electric grid data exchange secure architecture security technologies synchronic web multichain interplanetary file system distributed ledger Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Jan, 2026 Read the published version in Energy Informatics → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 31 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 23 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 21 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 28 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 22 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 29 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7485089","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":526414629,"identity":"3560ca14-556b-49d8-90fa-50c96a17dc6b","order_by":0,"name":"Patricia Cordeiro","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Sandia National Laboratories","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Patricia","middleName":"","lastName":"Cordeiro","suffix":""},{"id":526414630,"identity":"2ffd8298-354f-43ef-9895-a0e764ff40a0","order_by":1,"name":"Adrian 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