Radio Signal Security and Resilience

The seamless operation and continuity of Connected Mobility systems is key for modern transportation. In particular, the recent Radio (RF) jamming and spoofing incidents are intentionally or non-intentionally threatening the civil mobility systems like Aviation, Maritime trade, Connected Vehicles (CV), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), etc. Such threats can cause disruptions in the wireless communication and navigation (Positioning, Navigation, and Timing) systems, leaving profound and adverse impacts on humans and businesses. Such threats are becoming easier than ever, being unlocked by the proliferation of low-cost software-defined radio communications systems, abused to launch cyber-attacks on RF systems. Spoofing, jamming (DoS), and tampering attacks can now be launched at a low cost but rather mitigated at a high cost. Radio detection is becoming a necessity for civil applications due to the irresponsible use that can endanger lives and business. The project leverages signal processing and AI/ML to advance radio signal Security and Resilience, mainly, detection, classification, identification, and Adaptive Response. The project aims to detect anomalous behavior in light of historical patterns and also capture descriptive attributes of the physical nature of the attacking object. Finally, the project will establish resilience mechanisms to mitigate these threats and their effects.

The objectives of the project will be to: explore state-of-the-art research and practice together with PhDs and researchers; help on defining and solving a problem conceptually; implement a Proof-of-Concept solution with evaluation/simulation; and contribute and coauthor a scientific paper. More details can be shared and defined after admission and specific topic selection.