Facility

The Cyber-Physical Systems Lab (CyPhy Lab) is located on the third floor of the Mathematics Building in room 307. The CyPhy Lab is a part of the Information Assurance (IA) program with Dr. Irfan Ahmed serving as lab director. The Cyber-Physical Systems Lab contains a state-of-the-art model test bed of control systems—often called Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems—designed to supervise industrial processes at work. The “test bed” contains scale versions of three different systems—a pipeline, a water treatment plant and a power plant—and allows accurate simulation of each. Each utility system is connected to dedicated computer controls that students can use to study, experiment and acquire data. The test beds rely on instruments from Allen-Bradley, Siemens, and Schneider Electric—manufacturers that supply real-world control systems for utilities worldwide. The CyPhy Lab is currently developing tools and techniques to facilitate digital forensic investigations in industrial control systems. Such forensics can be difficult because these systems may use proprietary and legacy hardware and operating systems. A detailed listing of the CyPhy Lab equipment is provided below:

Laptop and Software

The Dell Latitude Laptop communicates with the Simulators to receive data to display on the HMI. It can be connected to any network connection in the system. The laptop has the ability to retrieve data from any of the PLCs in the system. The HMI software, PLC Programming Software and the Communication Software will reside on this laptop.

Pipeline Simulator

The pipeline simulator consists of an air compressor, valves and piping to simulate a pipeline monitoring system. The pressure in the pipeline can be set to maintain a pressure and the pressure can be bled off using a solenoid valve. The solenoid valve can be used to simulate a break in the line or normal usage in a system.

Waste Water Treatment Simulator

The wastewater treatment simulator consists of a circulation water pump that keeps the water circulating through the plant. The water will flow through a simulated filter and clarifier to clean the water in the system. The system will monitor the flow and other simulated values.

Power Plant Simulator

The power plant simulator consists of transformers to simulate the process of a power generating plant and transformers to simulate remote substations for step-up or step-down voltages. Voltage sensors will be located at incoming and outgoing sources and power parameters will be displayed on the HMI.