About SPaRC
Mission
The US Department of Energy’s SPaRC program is leading grid communications research and development through a multi-National Lab virtual testbed, designed to design, test, evaluate, and benchmark next-generation secure communications architectures and technologies.
What is Secure Grid Communications?
A secure communications system protects the end-to-end physical pathway that transports data from origin to destination. That pathway may involve different transmission methods—such as optical fiber, copper wire, and wireless technologies—and will transport a diversity of data, including grid state information and control messaging in a variety of analog and digital formats.
Securing this end-to-end communications pathway—which is essential for reliable grid operations—involves preventing unauthorized access, as well as monitoring traffic to identify anomalous activity without compromising the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the data. Communications security methods complement the cybersecurity approaches used to protect data at origin and destination.
Key Partners
SPaRC’s initial team consists of:
- DOE Office of Electricity
- Idaho National Laboratory
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Sandia National Laboratories
These partners bring communications expertise and testing capabilities.
Contact us Learn moreWhat SPaRC Offers
Grid Communications Testbed: A multi-laboratory platform to test and validate communications technologies in real-world grid environments.
Next-Generation Communications Experiments: Conducting experiments to evaluate new and existing communications technologies, protocols, and topologies for electric grid applications.
Education & Technical Assistance: Providing training, white papers, and technical reports.