In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern military operations, unmanned vehicles (UxVs) have become indispensable tools for reconnaissance, surveillance, and strike missions. These vehicles enhance situational awareness while significantly reducing the risk to personnel. The affordability and rapid deployment capabilities of UxVs have spurred the adoption of commercial solutions, which, while efficient, often rely on insecure communication protocols like MAVLink. These protocols lack robust authentication and encryption mechanisms, posing substantial security risks.
To address these vulnerabilities, researchers T. Rebolo, A. Grilo, and C. Ribeiro have designed, implemented, and evaluated a new secure command-and-control architecture. This architecture ensures confidentiality, integrity, and authentication (CIA) while supporting real-time control delegation between Ground Control Stations (GCSs). The proposed solution, named the New Command and Control System (NC2S), enforces a zero-trust model. This model integrates hierarchical credential-based privileges to regulate access and control among Tactical Commanders (TC), GCSs, and UxVs.
The NC2S employs mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) with Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) certificates and Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange. This ensures secure communication channels. Message integrity is further safeguarded through Hash-based Message Authentication Codes (HMAC). The researchers developed multiple lightweight protocols for credential management, key renewal, and control handover, ensuring seamless and secure operations.
The NC2S prototype was rigorously tested over Wi-Fi and Rohde&Schwarz HR-5000H tactical radios. The results revealed that HR-5000H links introduce latencies approximately two orders of magnitude higher than broadband technologies, such as Wi-Fi or 5G and Beyond technologies. Despite these latencies, the HR-5000H links maintained stable communication with minimal message loss, making them suitable for NC2S links among TC terminals and GCSs.
The implications of this research are profound for the defence and security sector. The NC2S architecture provides a robust framework for securing command and control communications for UxVs, addressing critical security gaps in current systems. By integrating advanced encryption and authentication mechanisms, the NC2S ensures that military operations can be conducted with enhanced security and reliability.
The successful validation of the NC2S prototype over different communication technologies underscores its versatility and effectiveness. This system can be deployed in various operational environments, from high-bandwidth settings to more constrained tactical radio networks. The ability to maintain stable communication with minimal message loss, even under higher latency conditions, makes NC2S a reliable solution for modern military applications.
As the defence sector continues to integrate UxVs into its operations, the need for secure command and control systems becomes increasingly critical. The NC2S architecture offers a comprehensive solution that addresses these needs, ensuring that military forces can operate with confidence and security. This research not only advances the state-of-the-art in secure communications but also sets a new standard for protecting critical military assets and operations. Read the original research paper here.