Leveraging eSIM Technology to Improve SCADA Resiliency

Utility SCADA solutions are critical to keeping the grid operating at its maximum availability, but these systems rely on communications systems that connect the head end to sensors, reclosures and other distribution elements to enable a reconfiguration of the distribution grid. Many utilities rely on cellular communications (public and private) to enable the required connectivity.

Here's the challenge: cellular networks were never designed to maximize availability and only considered resiliency as secondary to mobility.

One way to address the low availability (~99.9%) of cellular is to leverage the emerging GSMA eSIM standards which enable access to multiple public and private networks. By adding fallback connectivity to a primary cellular network, utilities can enhance overall communications availability as network outage events are often independent random processes. The added redundancy to one or more fallback networks has the potential to improve network availability by an order of magnitude.

• John Nachilly, Eversource Energy
• Caleb Murphy, Sempra Energy
• Oleg Pachkovets, Itron