Aimed at making smart grids and meters more secure, a new demonstration project will be conducted jointly by partners Sensus, EnerNex and DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

The three partners will collaborate on the project, dubbed the Automated Vulnerability Detection (AVUD) system. The system uses function extraction (FX) – a disruptive new technology platform that can detect and fix software-hardware issues before they become big problems.

Here is what each partner brings to the table:

• Sensus provides smart meter architecture, firmware and source code
• EnerNex contributes expertise in evaluating smart grid technologies
• ORNL shares its knowledge of the FX technology it has developed

“We saw immediate value in this project,” says Balu Ambady, Sensus’ director of information security, in a release. “We were eager to join EnerNex and ORNL to participate in an effort that can lead to early detection of vulnerabilities in smart grid components like meters, and development of uniform standards for improving data security of the smart grid applications…in the future, all advanced meter vendors would want to integrate this type of technology into their QA cycles.”

The collaborative project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012.

Takeaway: We applaud this kind of collaborative effort. Assuming the technology proves feasible, we would expect three logical outcomes: make it a new smart grid-meter standard, roll it out quickly, and translate the benefits (not the details, of course) to end customers.

(If you’re interested in diving deeper into this type of security issue, be sure to check out Pike Research’s Smart Grid Security Advisory Service.)