DEFT is a collaboration between DETERLab, the University of Illinois, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that is bringing large scale experimentation techniques to bear on problems in critical infrastructure.  In particular DEFT is exploring networking of power systems.  Using the DETER federation architecture, members of the collaboration have been able to interconnect data streams from local power facilities at UIUC and PNNL to each other and central systems at DETERLab.  The result is a collaborative laboratory for experimenting with interconnected power systems that can be created on demand.

This distributed laboratory was demonstrated, live, at the twelfth annual IEEE Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security.  Physical and simulated power systems were interconnected to a single unified monitor at DETERLab.  Members of the collaboration demonstrated how changes at the individual power sites were captured at the unified monitor and that DETERLab tools allowed control and monitoring of the internetworked data streams.

The demonstration captured both the powerful collaborative environment and the sense of close collaboration that promises further cross-discipline research.