A Preliminary Study of a Wireless Process Control Network Using Emulation Testbeds

The increasing dependence of Critical Infrastructures (CI) from Information and Communication Technologies might encompass significant risks to our society. Experimentation with CI before introducing a new technology has always been difficult mainly because the architecture complexity, the inability to conduct experiments within a mission critical environment as well as the lack of specialized tools for recreating a CI. In this paper we present the first results of a study that was conducted in a specialized environment for experimenting with CI. We propose the use of an emulation testbed (Emulab driven) along with SCADA-aware components in order to recreate a typical Process Control Network (PCN). We present here experimental results of the risks that operators might face while installing Wi-Fi access technologies within a PCN. This work is indicative of the approach, that operators could follow, to measure, understand and minimize undesirable consequences to the resilience of a CI.