Identifying critical nodes of cyber–physical power systems based on improved adaptive differential evolution

Abstract

The identification and protection of critical nodes have a significant influence on the reliability and robustness of the cyber–physical power system (CPPS), which can effectively reduce the risk of cascading failures. Firstly, this paper establishes a one-to-one coupled cascading fault model, which considers different topological characteristics of power and cyber networks. Based on the interdependence between the two networks, the cascading fault propagation mechanism after node failures in CPPS is analyzed. Then, a critical node identification method based on improved adaptive differential evolution (JADE) is proposed to identify the sets of critical nodes that can maximize the impact on the system load of CPPS. Combined with the cascading failure characteristics of CPPS, in the population generation strategy, the test vectors that do not meet the conditions after the crossover operation are filtered and replaced to improve the search efficiency of the algorithm. Finally, in the case study, an interdependent CPPS is constructed with an IEEE 39-bus system and a scale-free network of the same nodes. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed node importance assessment strategy. In addition, it is also shown that evaluating the critical nodes in power systems is important for enhancing the robustness and ensuring the security of the power grid operation.