Presentation at the Energy session of the European Space Solutions conference, The Hague, 03/06/2016

1. EUROPEAN SPACE SOLUTIONS
BRINGING SPACE TO EARTH
30 MAY - 03 JUNE, 2016
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS
#EUSPACE16
GNSS-based Timing for Power Grids
and other Critical Infrastructures
Dr. ing. Marco Lisi – ESA/ESTEC

2. Summary
• Future electric power distribution networks (Smart Grids) have
fundamental requirements for time and synchronization to
achieve efficient power transmission and distribution, also
minimizing the risk for massive power black outs;
• Global Navigation Satellite Systems, such as GPS, GLONASS,
Galileo and Beidou, constitute a worldwide utility, tightly
interconnected with all other critical infrastructures, from
electric power distribution systems to air traffic management
systems, from railways to water and oil piping networks;
• Timing is the most strategic and essential of the services
offered by GNSS’s;
• Europe is working towards an independent, ubiquitous,
reliable, continuous, resilient and precise timing reference to
support all its critical infrastructures.

3. 3
Why is exact Timing so important in
Electric Power Grids?

4. Traditional Power Grid Architecture

5. Future Power Grid Architecture

6. Synchronized Phasor Measurements
• Synchronized near-real time measurements of voltage and
current phasors at widely dispersed locations in an electric
power grid are key to achieving an efficient power transmission
and distribution and to preventing wide-scale cascading
outages;
• A Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), aka synchrophasor, is a
device capable of measuring voltage and current phasors of
the electrical waves in an electricity grid, using a common time
source for synchronization;
• Measurements are time-stamped with 1 microsecond or better
accuracy wrt a common absolute time reference provided by
GNSS receivers integrated into the PMUs.

8. 8
Oil Pipeline Transport Networks

9. 9
Water Pipeline Distribution Networks

10. 10
Telecommunications Networks

11. 11
Railways Transportation Systems

12. 12
Maritime Transportation Systems

13. 13
Air Traffic Control Systems

14. 14
Financial Networks

15. GNSS Timing and Critical
Infrastructures

16. The Principle of Satellite Navigation

17. GNSS Multi-Constellation Scenario

18. The European GNSS: Galileo

19. 19
Galileo Program Essentials
• Galileo is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global
navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate,
guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control;
• While providing autonomous navigation and positioning
services, Galileo will at the same time be interoperable with
GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation
systems;
• The fully deployed Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites
(24 plus 6 spare) and the supporting ground infrastructure.

20. Galileo System Architecture
20

21. Galileo FOC Satellites (OHB)

22. Clocks Accuracy Evolution

23. Galileo On-board Atomic Clock
(Selex ES)
"Passive Hydrogen Maser" (PHM): 1 second every 3 milion years!

24. GNSS: a Constellation of Ultra
Stable Clocks in the Sky

25. Galileo as a worldwide
UTC reference
UTC: UNIVERSAL TIME COORDINATED

26. GNSS Threats: Jamming, Spoofing…
• JAMMING
• SPOOFING is the possibility to generate, through relatively
inexpensive and technologically simple equipment, fake
replicas of GNSS signals. In this way, it is possible to provide to
the attacked user or infrastructure inaccurate information
about both location and time;

27. 27
… Cyberattacks

28. The role of the European GNSS Agency

29. Galileo Timing Services

30. The European approach to a
Resilient PNT Infrastructure

31. Miniaturized Atomic Clocks

32. Worldwide System of Systems
Timing Infrastructure

33. Conclusion
• Our society has become essentially dependent on the world
Positioning, Navigation and Timing infrastructure, today
mainly based on GNSS’s;
• The electric power grid as well as many other critical
infrastructures would literally collapse in case of a total,
worldwide GNSS failure, mostly because of their dependency
on an exact timing reference;
• The European GNSS Agency (a.k.a. GSA) will play a vital role in
making the European GNSS Galileo more resilient, service-
oriented and interoperable with GPS;
• The development of non-GNSS solutions and of autonomous
platforms and technologies will lead to a worldwide, totally
integrated PNT system of systems, able to resolve to a large
extent all present limitations and vulnerabilities.

34. 34
Galileo:
eager to serve

35. THANK YOU