The energy transition is increasing both the share of decentralized, fluctuating generation and the demand for electricity in low-voltage grids. This makes a reliable, multidirectional communication infrastructure—particularly via smart meter gateways in the smart metering system—essential for managing flexibility and maintaining system balance.

Disruptions or failures in this communication can have a direct impact on control processes and the stability of the distribution grid. To date, there has been no end-to-end, trust-based classification of such disruptions along the SMGW-based communication chain—from identification and assessment to experimental verification of their operational impacts.

This is precisely where IKTres comes in: Existing approaches to anomaly detection and trust models in cyber-physical energy systems are integrated and tailored to the specific requirements of SMGW-based communication and operational distribution network management.

Through the IKTres project, OFFIS aims to strengthen the resilience and trustworthiness of ICT-based system operations management in electric power distribution networks. Using appropriate methods, models, and analytical tools, the project seeks to make it possible to assess and quantify the dependence of grid operations on uninterrupted communication via smart meter gateways.

To this end, OFFIS is developing a system status and trustworthiness model for communication paths, SMGWs, network management systems, and grid-relevant control information, which will enable not only the detection of ICT disruptions but also the assessment of their impact on grid operations, control processes, and system stability.

Furthermore, OFFIS makes this ICT diagnostic information available as an additional source for digital twins of distribution grids, thereby contributing to a new level of quality in grid operations decision-making. The developed concepts are validated through simulation and in the laboratory; research data, models, and software are made available in accordance with the FAIR principles and prepared for transfer and reuse.

OFFIS is contributing its preliminary work from CybResLab, ReMoDigital, and TRACEY on the identification, analysis, and assessment of ICT disruptions, as well as on trust models in cyber-physical energy systems.

For simulation- and laboratory-based validation, OFFIS uses coupling methods from Redispatch 3.0, ReCoDE, and VITAL, as well as the real-time-capable digital twin platform developed in the Open Energy Twin project, which is being expanded to include interfaces to ICT diagnostic information and a trust-based, resilient control system.

The project also utilizes established communication simulators (including OMNeT++), hardware-in-the-loop methods in a test setup linked across laboratories with the DLR, and research data management in accordance with the FAIR principles, based on approaches such as NFDI4Energy.