Sahra Sedigh Sarvestani

Dr. Sahra Sedigh Sarvestani

Associate Professor

Electrical & Computer Engineering

 

Dr. Sahra Sedigh Sarvestani is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science (courtesy) and a Research Investigator with the Intelligent Systems Center at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. She holds a BS in electrical engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, and an MS in electrical engineering and PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University. Her research centers on analysis and modeling of dependability for complex systems, with focus on critical infrastructure and cyber-physical systems. Her past and present research sponsors include the National Science Foundation, the US and Missouri Departments of Transportation, the Department of Education, the National Security Agency,  the European Commission, and private industry. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Education, a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core, and a member of IEEE-HKN.

Personal Website:

Dr. Sedigh Sarvestani's Personal Website


Quantitative Dependability  Modeling of  Smart  Grids  with  Consideration  of Cyber-Physical Interdependencies

Dr. Sedigh Project Image


INVESTIGATORS
S.  Sedigh Sarvestani (sedighs@mst.edu), K. Marashi, and A. R. Hurson


FUNDING SOURCE
Dept. of Education; Dept. of Transportation; Intelligent  Systems  Center (Missouri S&T); Center  for Infrastructure Engineering  Studies  (Missouri S&T); IntelliSpeak,  LLC


PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This research seeks to facilitate analysis of the reliability and survivability achieved by smart grids.  To this  end,  we have proposed  an analytical reliability  model and  a survivability analysis  method  that capture  the  effect of impairments originating  from both  physical and  cyber components,  as well as the  effect of cyber-physical  interdependencies among these components.   We investigate the  use of simulation-based fault  injection  to instantiate the  model with failure data.   We aim to categorize  and quantify  dependencies in the  smart  grid and analyze the  impact  on reliability  of introducing additional interdependencies.  A pending  case study  investigates  the  effect of physical  and  cyber improvements on overall  reliability  of the  smart  grid, and  demonstrates that flawed cyber infrastructure can  result  in lower reliability  than  that of a conventional  power grid with less advanced  control.  Additional detail on the project is available here.

 
PUBLICATIONS

  1. K. Marashi, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Identification of interdependencies and prediction of fault propagation for cyber-physical systems. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 215:107787, 2021.
  2. M. Woodard, K. Marashi, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Survivability evaluation and importance analysis for cyber-physical smart grids. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 210:107479, 2021.
  3. N. Jarus, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Towards refinement and generalization of component state-based reliability models. In Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Resilient Cyber Systems, San Antonio, USA, Nov. 2019.
  4. N. Jarus, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Formalizing cyber-physical system model trans- formation via abstract interpretation. In Proceedings of the 19th IEEE International High Assurance Systems Engineering Symposium (HASE 2019), Hangzhou, China, Jan. 2019.
  5. K. Marashi, S. Sedigh Sarvestani,  and A. R. Hurson.  Consideration of cyber-physical interdependencies in reliability modeling of smart grids. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, 3(2):73 - 83, April-June 2018.
  6. N. Jarus, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Models, metamodels, and model transformation for cyber-physical systems. In Proceedings of the 7th International Green and Sustainable Computing Conference, Hangzhou, China, Nov. 2016.
  7. I. Alobaidi, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Survivability analysis and recovery support for smart grids. In Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Resilient Cyber Systems, Chicago, USA, Aug. 2016, winner of Best Paper Award.
  8. K. Marashi, S. Sedigh Sarvestani, and A. R. Hurson. Quantification and analysis of interdependency in cyber-physical systems. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Reliability and Security Aspects for Critical Infrastructure (ReSA4CI 2016), in conjunction with the 46th IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN 2016), Toulouse, France, June 2016.