Enabling Application Independent Redundancy by Using Software Defined Networking

In critical infrastructures such as Smart Grids, reliability is crucial. Traditionally, this is achieved via redundant devices and switch-over functionality. Existing solutions often handle redundancy on the application layer, which can be complex to install and maintain. This paper presents a novel and generic approach to provide redundancy for Smart Grids via software defined networking (SDN). Existing approaches of utilizing SDN in Smart Grids mainly focus on replacing technologies like Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to reduce configuration effort and increase network reliability. The proposed concept however aims to simplify control infrastructure redundancy setup and to increase flexibility. This is achieved by moving the redundancy logic from the application to the network, creating an application-agnostic solution to manage redundancy transparently across communication layers. Especially in scenarios with interruption-tolerant application-layer protocols and policies, benefits like reduced costs and additional configuration options are expected.