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ACNLAdvanced Communication Networks Laboratory

Projects / New in 2026

SUMMIT: A Secure and Resilient Multi-site Smart Grid Testbed for Multidisciplinary Research and Training

$2.0MNational Science Foundation, Major Research Instrumentation Track 2 (Award #2511635)
Oct 2026 to Sep 2029period
0papers acknowledging the award
1lab students and alumni on the work

The project

A federated cyber-physical testbed that links RTDS real-time simulation of the Northeast transmission grid with control, networking, and cybersecurity hardware in the loop across three universities over a wide-area SDN, delivered as HIL Simulation-as-a-Service. A postdoctoral researcher will lead federation development.

PI Vinod Vokkarane; Co-PIs Orlando Arias and Lewis Tseng (UMass Lowell), Yuzhang Lin (NYU), and Anurag Srivastava (WVU); senior personnel Yan Luo, Seung Woo Son, and Christopher Niezrecki.

Award number: 2511635

Students

Md Zahidul Islam

From the authors of the lab\'s related work in the project period.

Architecture

SUMMIT's three-site architecture: the UMass Lowell main site with its real-time simulators and control, network, and instrumentation equipment; a wide-area software-defined network; and the federation sites at NYU Tandon and West Virginia University.

Related work from the lab in this period

Papers in the project\'s research threads from its years; they may or may not acknowledge this award.

B. R. J. Arka, M. Z. Islam, Y. Lin, V. M. Vokkarane, J. Zhao. Communication Network-Aware Missing Data Recovery for Enhanced Distribution Grid VisibilityConference, 2026, Smart grid resilience and security

Acknowledging this award

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation, Major Research Instrumentation Track 2 under Award No. 2511635. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor.