SUMMIT: a secure and resilient multi-site smart grid testbed
A federated instrument for research and training on attacks, defenses, and recovery in cyber-physical power systems, built by UMass Lowell with NYU Tandon and West Virginia University and delivered to collaborators as hardware-in-the-loop Simulation-as-a-Service.
SUMMIT architecture: the UMass Lowell main site with its real-time digital simulator and control, network, and instrumentation equipment; a wide-area software-defined network over the Internet; and the WVU and NYU federation sites.
What SUMMIT is
A shared instrument that couples high-fidelity real-time simulation of the Northeast transmission grid with real control, networking, and cybersecurity hardware in the loop, at three universities linked over the Internet.
Four paradigms
- Distributed hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation. Control, networking, and cybersecurity hardware closes the loop with grid models running in real time on RTDS simulators.
- Internet-in-the-loop simulation. The three sites exchange live simulation signals over a wide-area software-defined network across the public Internet, so the network itself is part of every experiment.
- Heterogeneous distributed digital twins. Scoped in Phase 1 to the RTDS simulators and the existing OPAL-RT simulator, which is relocated to UML North.
- Federated platform for HIL Simulation-as-a-Service. The central objective. In Phase 1 the federation covers the three partner universities, with WVU's existing testbed as the first instrument federated. National-scale federation is planned for Phase 2.
Scope of Phase 1
Modeling and simulation focus on the backbone transmission grid of the Northeast; local distribution grids are left to future work. The instrument is built for high-fidelity real-time simulation with control, networking, and cybersecurity hardware in the loop, and it eliminates power hardware on site: no power amplifier, inverters, solar panels, batteries, microgrid, or drones. All power components are modeled at high fidelity inside the RTDS simulators.
The cyber-physical grid instances built and tested on the simulators are small to medium scale for proof of concept, while keeping every capability needed to scale to the regional and national models originally planned. The physical asset monitoring thrust and the electric vehicle course are outside the funded scope for this phase; multimodal asset monitoring is planned for Phase 2.
The instrument
Real-time digital simulation at the core, surrounded by the hardware that makes an experiment cyber-physical.
RTDS NovaCor real-time digital simulators
RTDS simulators run grid models at time steps small enough to drive real relays, controllers, and network devices in closed loop. Every power component, from generation and storage to inverters, lives inside the simulation, which is what lets the testbed stay safe, repeatable, and free of power hardware on site.
Around the simulators at the UMass Lowell main site:
- Signal generator and grid simulator for excitation and disturbance injection
- Network emulator for latency, loss, and attack scenarios on the communication layer
- Optical, RF, and FPGA equipment for the transport and edge layers
- Control and GPS equipment for time synchronization and protection
- Core network switch and the control and monitoring workstations
- Wide-area SDN links to the WVU and NYU sites, each with its own switch, controller, and simulator
Three sites, one instrument
Each site runs part of the grid and part of the experiment; the federation layer makes them behave as one testbed.
UMass Lowell
Main site at UML North with the RTDS simulators, the relocated OPAL-RT simulator, control and instrumentation equipment, and the federation controller. Home of the Center for Smart Cyber-Physical Systems.
NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Power system modeling, state estimation, and cyber-physical resilience; the NYU node carries its own switch, controller, and simulator.
West Virginia University
WVU's existing grid testbed is the first external instrument federated into SUMMIT, the proof point for Simulation-as-a-Service.
Team
Faculty across three universities and three UMass Lowell departments.
Vinod M. VokkaranePrincipal InvestigatorProfessor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Orlando AriasCo-PI, hardware securityAssistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Lewis TsengCo-PI, distributed systemsAssociate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Yuzhang LinCo-PI, NYU Tandon siteAssistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Anurag SrivastavaCo-PI, WVU siteRaymond J. Lane Professor and Chairperson, Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University
Yan LuoSenior personnel, networksProfessor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Seung Woo SonSenior personnel, HPCAssociate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Christopher NiezreckiSenior personnel, energy systemsDistinguished University Professor, Mechanical and Industrial EngineeringPlan
Phase 1 runs three years from October 2026. Milestones below are the planning targets; they will be updated as the project moves.
- Year 1, 2026 to 2027
Instrument acquisition and installation at UML North; RTDS commissioning; relocation of the OPAL-RT simulator; site network and control equipment; postdoctoral researcher joins to lead federation development.
- Year 2, 2027 to 2028
Three-site federation over the wide-area SDN; Internet-in-the-loop experiments; WVU testbed federated as the first external instrument; first shared attack, defense, and restoration experiments.
- Year 3, 2028 to 2029
HIL Simulation-as-a-Service opened to partner-university researchers and students; training modules; documentation and access process for future federation members.
- Phase 2, planned
National-scale federation, multimodal physical asset monitoring, and distribution-grid modeling.
Work on SUMMIT
Openings for a postdoctoral researcher and graduate students, and a path for collaborators who want time on the instrument.
Postdoctoral research associate
Lead the federation software and the Internet-in-the-loop experiments across the three sites, working with the PI and Co-PIs at UMass Lowell. Position open for Fall 2026.
View the posting and applyStudents and collaborators
Ph.D. and M.S. students join through the UMass Lowell ECE program; write to a faculty member whose work matches yours and copy SCyPS@uml.edu. Researchers at other institutions who want to run experiments on SUMMIT once the federation opens should contact the PI.
Contact the PIThis material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2511635. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.