Verifiable Computation in Smart Grids Using Dynamic Slicing

The verification of computations such as load profiling and billing in smart grids, is a critical challenge, regardless of whether these tasks are outsourced to third-party companies or performed by utility providers themselves. Ensuring the correctness of these computations is essential, as any miscalculations can lead to significant financial losses and operational inefficiencies. For instance, an incorrect load profile prediction could result in either overproduction or underproduction of electricity, leading to wastage or shortages of electricity. This paper introduces a novel approach to verifiable computation by applying dynamic slicing, a technique used to break down computations into smaller slices and dynamically distribute them across multiple servers based on their past performance, trustworthiness, or current load on the servers. Originally a concept from software engineering, where slices of code are isolated to trace errors, dynamic slicing is adapted here to verifiable computation by distributing and verifying slices of tasks in an environment like smart grids.