Student Research Abstract: Trustworthy Remote Entities in the Smart Grid

It has been demonstrated that the frequent energy measurements from smart meters could pose a risk to individual privacy. Although various solutions have been proposed, this remains an open research challenge. This proposed research endeavour aims to enhance user privacy by introducing a novel element into the smart grid architecture. The Trustworthy Remote Entity (TRE) is a computational and communication system situated as an intermediary between a group of smart meters and the external smart grid entities. The TRE enhances user privacy by providing a degree of indirection in this bidirectional communication architecture. The proposed research methodology involves first modelling the behaviour of the TRE and then architecting this system using Trusted Computing technologies. Given the current state of smart grid development, it is anticipated that this research will have a significant impact on the smart grid