PNNL

Abstract

ABSTRACT The use of wandering, mobile agents can provide a robust approach for managing, monitoring, and securing electrical distribution networks. However, the topological structure of electrical networks can affect system performance. For example, if the multi-agent system relies on a regular inspection rate (on average, points of interest are inspected with equal frequency), then locations that are not well connected will on average be inspected less frequently. This paper discusses creation and use of overlay networks that create a virtual grid graph can provide faster coverage and a more uniform average agent sampling rate. Using overlays agents wander a virtual neighborhood consisting of only points of interest that are interconnected in a regular fashion (each point has the same number of neighbors). Experimental results will show that an overlay can often provide better network coverage and a more uniform inspection rate, which can improve cyber security by providing a faster detection of threats