Dynamic Islanding of Critical Infrastructures, a Suitable Strategy to Survive and Mitigate Critical Events Joint Infrastructure Interdependencies Research Program – UBC Team J.A. Hollman, J.R. Martí, J. Jatskevich, K.D. Srivastava THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Presentation Outline Introduction of JIIRP Project Motivation Event & Infrastructure Interdependencies Dynamic Islanding of CIs Strategy Challenges Conclusions

JIIRP Project characteristics Six Canadian Universities involved –The University of British Columbia Decision making for critical linkages in infrastructure networks –York University Model interdependencies for emergency management using geographic decision support systems –University of Saskatchewan Develop models that simulate critical infrastructure networks –École Polytechnique de Montréal Study interdependencies and domino effects in life-supporting networks –University of Toronto Model of infrastructure interdependencies through an analysis of stakeholder needs, risks, and competencies –University of Guelph Ways to improve resilience of water infrastructure and health response systems against waterborne diseases

JIIRP Project characteristics (Cont.) UBC Multidisciplinary research group –Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Modelling & Simulation Physical & Human Layers –Department of Civil Engineering Earthquake Risk Assessment –Department of Computer Science Data Integration & Visualization –Sauder School of Business Business continuation –Department of Geography GIS –Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth Society Response Funded by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) with contribution from Industry partners –Telus, BCTC, GVRD, YVR, BCHydro

Motivation Modernization of the Emergency Preparedness Act – Government of Canada Focused on: Modern Emergency Management Ensuring Government of Canada Readiness Seamless Emergency Management Effective Partnerships Information Sharing Reliable and Resilient Critical Infrastructures

Emergency Management Stages

Emergency Management Stages (cont.) Efforts traditionally target Preparedness and Response Deep knowledge of CIs and its interdependencies is needed to successfully improve Mitigation Mitigation provides best cost-benefit ratio Interdependencies dynamics make almost impossible to increase Global resiliency

Emergency Management Stages (cont.) Mitigation Key areas: –Leadership and Coordination –Hazard Identification –Education and Information Dissemination –Partnerships among Gov-CIs operators –Incentives We need to know not only the weaknesses of CIs but also their critical interdependencies. The goal is to identify boundaries imposed by weak links among CIs.

Dynamic Critical Infrastructures Interdependencies

Dynamic Islanding of CIs Strategy The network is segmented into “self- sufficient islands” to prevent cascading effects. An island must be able to survive on its own for a limited time period. Beyond this period help needs to be coordinated and delivered from the external world Restoration of vital links to the islands constitutes the recovery process Panic control and prevention of cascading effects requires immediate response Islanding is much less expensive than the redundancy approach

Advantages of Dynamic Islanding of CIs Increases survivability of the network. Minimizes the restoration time. Decreases impact of Cascading events by identifying high-load nodes. Dynamic definition of islands for different levels of quality service or catastrophe scenarios. Optimization of network upgrades.

Dynamic interdependencies flow analysis of CIs for Decision Makers Different Islanding schemes will be appropriate for different Emergency scenarios

Dynamic interdependencies flow analysis of CIs for Decision Makers (cont.)

Dynamic Islanding of CIs Strategy, How to implement it? 1.Identification of NCIs for most Critical Emergency Scenarios 2.Partnerships among NCIs operators and Government 3.Identification of Cells, Nodes and Islands 4.Pre-established Decision Hierarchy depending on Emergency Scenario 5.Incentives (e.g. sleeping contracts) 6.Long term Mitigation oriented plans

Ontology Tokens: goods needed by cells Cells: entity that performs a function Nodes: group of cells separated from other groups by transportation channels Islands: geographically close set of nodes that can satisfy a given survivability index for a certain period of time. Its boundaries are defined by “design/operational CIs weaknesses” Transportation Channels: tokens are moved from one node to another through channels

Challenges Identification of Interdependencies (Implies disclosure of sensitive information) Cooperation among NCIs operators and Gov. Management of sensitive information (central vs. distributed) Panic control

Conclusions Mitigation as a long term policy based on Dynamic Islanding can increase the global resiliency by avoiding CIs collapse due to cascade failure Collaboration among CIs operators and Gov. agencies is key to success

Thank you!