By Musammad M Tamanna

As the United States modernizes its electric grid, Abu Naser Md. Golam Mosharraf focuses on the critical communications systems that support real-time monitoring, protection, and control. With a Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and more than 17 years of telecommunications experience, his work spans fiber-optic networks, microwave communications, IP/MPLS, OT, and SCADA systems. His long-term goal is to improve the security, reliability, and resilience of communications infrastructure supporting U.S. electric utilities and bulk-power systems.

Reporter: Why are telecommunications systems so important to the modern electric grid?
Mosharraf: The modern grid is not only an electrical system; it is also an information network. Protection relays, substations, control centers, monitoring platforms, and automation systems depend on reliable communications. If those communications are interrupted, delayed, or compromised, operators can lose visibility or receive unreliable information. I describe telecommunications as the nervous system of the grid because it allows different parts of the system to sense conditions, exchange information, and respond.

Reporter: What technologies are central to your work?
Mosharraf: My work focuses on fiber-optic and SCADA communications, including Optical Ground Wire, or OPGW, All-Dielectric Self-Supporting fiber, or ADSS, underground fiber, microwave systems, IP/MPLS networks, and legacy transport systems. I am also interested in how artificial intelligence and Digital Twin technologies can improve monitoring, anomaly detection, recovery, and resilience.

Reporter: Why are OPGW and ADSS important?
Mosharraf: Utilities use these fiber systems to carry critical information between substations, control centers, generating facilities, and other locations. Fiber is highly capable, but fiber alone does not make a network secure. Engineers still have to consider route protection, redundancy, access control, monitoring, configuration, cybersecurity, and restoration planning. My research on securing SCADA communications over OPGW and ADSS fiber examines those issues directly.

Reporter: Where does artificial intelligence fit into utility communications?
Mosharraf: One promising area is real-time anomaly detection. Traditional monitoring relies heavily on fixed rules and thresholds. Machine learning can examine traffic behavior, timing information, control signals, and communications performance to identify unusual activity. In my research on SCADA-bearing fiber networks, I evaluated models against denial-of-service attacks, replay attacks, command manipulation, and communication disruptions. The goal is to give engineers faster and more useful information.

Reporter: Why is explainable AI important?
Mosharraf: An engineer cannot rely on an alert that simply says an algorithm detected something unusual. The engineer needs to understand why. Was there packet loss? Did latency increase? Was a command sequence abnormal? Was there a routing issue, equipment problem, or possible cyber event? Explainable AI can connect a model's prediction to an engineering decision. One of my planned projects focuses on explainable, low-latency anomaly detection for SCADA-bearing utility fiber networks.

Reporter: How can Digital Twins improve grid resilience?
Mosharraf: A Digital Twin is a digital representation of a physical or operational system. In utility telecommunications, it can represent communication paths, fiber links, performance conditions, dependencies, and recovery behavior. It can help engineers simulate failures and evaluate recovery strategies without creating risk on a live operational network. I am planning a synthetic-data Digital Twin testbed to generate controlled normal and fault scenarios for resilience validation while avoiding unnecessary exposure of sensitive utility information.

Reporter: How do you expect your work to help engineers?
Mosharraf: I want the research to produce methods engineers can actually use. That includes design-review frameworks, resilience metrics, anomaly-detection workflows, Digital Twin validation methods, inspection and commissioning procedures, and controlled cutover and rollback practices. My goal is to connect cybersecurity and advanced analytics with the real conditions under which critical infrastructure is designed, built, operated, and maintained.

Reporter: Why is this work nationally important?
Mosharraf: Every modern utility depends on communications. While network designs differ, the challenges are similar: SCADA visibility, fiber-path protection, cybersecurity, segmentation, transport resilience, monitoring, change management, and recovery. As the United States expands transmission, renewable generation, automation, and data-center infrastructure, the communications footprint will also expand. Stronger communications engineering can support grid reliability, public safety, economic continuity, and national resilience.

Reporter: What is your long-term objective?
Mosharraf: My goal is to continue integrating practical utility engineering with research. I plan to develop secure communications frameworks, AI-based monitoring methods, Digital Twin resilience tools, and field-deployment guidance while continuing to publish and collaborate with other engineers and researchers. I want my work to contribute to a grid that is more secure, observable, reliable, and resilient.

Brief Bio:
Abu Naser Md. Golam Mosharraf is an electrical and telecommunications engineer with over 17 years of experience in fiber-optic networks, SCADA, OT communications, and utility infrastructure. Email: anmmosharraf@gmail.com