WAPI-based Trusted Access for Smart Grounding Systems in Substations via Cyber-Physical Simulation

Abstract

As power grids become more digitalized, substation communication networks must offer high bandwidth, low latency, and strong security, which traditional wireless methods cannot provide at the same time. This paper proposes a trustworthy access scheme for power IoT terminals based on WAPI (WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure) and builds a cyber-physical simulation platform that jointly models the communication and power processes. We compare WAPI with Wi-Fi HaLow, LoRaWAN, and 6LoWPAN. In steady state WAPI keeps packet latency below 5 ms and a packet delivery ratio near 100% under typical load, and it reaches the highest effective throughput among the four. These results indicate that WAPI can support an independent and controllable access system for the power IoT.