Bogus ADS-B Out Messages for Aircraft Tracking Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
The misuse of ADS-B Out messages by malicious entities, including cyber-attack tools and physical threats, poses a significant risk to aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as these messages provide precise location information that can be exploited for attacks, and current solutions are inadequate to prevent such misuse.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that allows aircraft to transmit authorized bogus ADS-B Out messages, which are recognizable as false only to authorized users, using an Airborne ATC Processor and Ground Air Traffic Management System Processor, generating and transmitting these messages to prevent malicious exploitation, while ensuring they do not conflict with actual flight trajectories.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If aircraft transmit ADS-B Out messages with precise position information, then air traffic control and other aircraft can track and monitor flight paths accurately, but malicious entities can exploit this information for cyber and physical attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system consisting of ground-based authentication servers and onboard security modules that authenticate ADS-B messages before they are transmitted and received. This intermediary layer verifies the legitimacy of position information, allowing accurate tracking while preventing malicious exploitation by filtering out unauthorized messages
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the ADS-B message transmission system into authenticated and unauthenticated channels. Authenticated messages carry precise position information for authorized recipients (ATC, other aircraft), while unauthenticated messages are rejected or treated with suspicion, effectively separating useful information from potential threats
2Productivity
If aircraft transmit ADS-B Out messages every second with high spatial and temporal precision, then real-time flight tracking is enabled, but the exposure and likelihood of successful attacks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic authentication where the security parameters and authentication requirements adapt based on the flight context, threat level, and recipient authorization. This allows real-time tracking to continue for authorized users while dynamically blocking or filtering suspicious messages that could enable attacks
3Reliability
If bogus ADS-B messages are transmitted to prevent malicious tracking, then aircraft safety is improved, but false information may conflict with actual flight trajectories
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making authentication credentials and authorization levels specific to each message and recipient. Authenticated recipients receive both genuine position data and authorized decoy messages that are locally validated as legitimate through cryptographic verification, preventing conflicts while maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where ground authentication servers verify message legitimacy and provide confirmation to receiving aircraft. This feedback loop ensures that decoy messages are properly identified and handled, preventing conflicts with actual flight trajectories while maintaining the safety benefits of bogus message transmission
Data Source
AI summary
An avionics system allows aircraft to introduce bogus “ADS-B Out” messages that are recognized as false only by authorized users. The system enables aircrafts flying at low altitudes to prevent misuse of their ADS-B Out information by maliciously operated cyber and physical attack tools. Aspects of the illustrative embodiment include the system architecture, including an Airborne ATC Processor and Ground ATM System Processor; a process employed by aircraft for generating authorized bogus ADS-B Out messages; a process employed by aircraft for transmitting authorized bogus ADS-B Out messages; and a process employed by air traffic control and other aircraft for decoding the authorized bogus ADS-B Out messages.