Packet Insertion Attack Detection in Optical UAV Networks

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a possible future application for both civil and military use. The large amount of data generated by UAVs requires high data rate connectivity, which makes Free Space Optical (FSO) communications very suitable. In this paper, we consider a three-layer UAV network architecture, showing the use of a network of UAVs connected through FSO links for the delivery of collected data by sensor nodes.The UAV network is exposed such as the other types of networks to several types of attacks. In the frame of this work, we study a specific class of attacks that vises to insert erroneous collected data in inter-UAV FSO communication links. In order to detect this attack on the receiver, we propose to encrypt the collected data, sent on an inter-UAV FSO link, using a shifted optical codeword. Furthermore, we present a tolerance approach allowing to continue the collected data transmission in the presence of a packet insertion attack.