A Preliminary Study of a Wireless Process Control Network Using Emulation Testbeds

Abstract

The increasing dependence of Critical Infrastructures (CI) from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been recognized as a trend that might encompass significant risks to our society. Experimentation with CI before introducing a new technology has always been difficult mainly because the use of diverse and complex protocols and architectures, the inability to conduct experiments within a mission critical production environment as well as the lack of specialized tools for recreating a CI.

In this paper we present the first results of a study that was conducted in a specialized environment for experimenting with Critical Next Generation Infrastructures. We propose the use of an emulation testbed - built on top of the Emulab software- along with specialized SCADA-aware components in order to recreate a typical industrial Process Control Network (PCN). We have implemented this architecture in our laboratory and we present here experimental results of the risks that operators might face while installing Wi-Fi access technologies within a PCN. This work is indicative of the approach, that operators and researchers could follow, to measure, understand and minimize undesirable consequences to the resilience and security of a CI.