Enabling Cyber-Resilient Smart Grid Communication Using 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Analysis of LTE vs. 5G

Communication networks are a crucial part of modern-day smart power grids. Delays in the communication network, caused by traffic congestion or cyberattacks, can affect effective grid operation. The research in this paper analyses how different smart grid communication frameworks (LTE and 5G) behave under similar traffic conditions. This study considers three major factors of evaluation: latency evaluation for 5G and LTE under traffic congestion, the advantages of network slicing in 5G, and smart grid cyber-resilience metrics for 5G and LTE. The traffic classification is established based on the IEEE Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and IT Operation, IEEE Standard 2030-2011. Based on this standard, the PMU traffic is allocated to the URLLC slice, the user traffic is allocated to the eMBB slice, and the distributed energy resources and energy storage traffic are allocated to the mMTC slice. The experimental design of both 5G and LTE smart grid communication architectures is realised through the co-simulation of MATLAB/Simulink (version R2026a) and Comnetsemu (version 1.0.0). The results of this study show that network slicing enables PMU traffic isolation under conditions of heavy traffic; therefore, the PMU traffic remains protected under congestion because of the slice-based resource allocation in 5G. In this study, 5G therefore provides better performance compared to the conventional LTE-based WAN architectures. The experimental results indicate that 5G provides better latency as compared to LTE in smart grid communication architecture. The average latency values for the 5G architecture range from 34 to 37 ms, whereas those of the LTE architecture are 46 to 47 ms. Both 5G and LTE architectures are also evaluated for cyber resilience under conditions of DoS attack. The 5G architecture recovers within an average of 9 s compared to LTE, which takes an average of 16 s. Our prior research has identified the advantages of network slicing in PMU traffic isolation in smart grid communication. The scope of this study indicates that the advantages of network slicing make 5G a comparatively better communication architecture in smart grid communication than LTE.