Spread Spectrum Receiver Burst Number Anti-Replay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Spread spectrum wireless communications systems are vulnerable to denial of service attacks, particularly the 'record and playback' attack, where an adversary records and re-transmits valid burst transmissions, overwhelming the receiver's hardware and software, potentially disrupting data links.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a random or pseudo-random burst number in each transmission, which is analyzed to detect and flag unauthorized duplicate transmissions, allowing the system to inhibit processing of such bursts and prevent resource exhaustion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If spread spectrum encoding is used to achieve covert communication and security, then the probability of detection by unauthorized users decreases, but the system becomes vulnerable to record and playback denial of service attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by incorporating a burst number field into each spread spectrum transmission before the attack occurs. This pre-prepared identification mechanism enables the receiver to detect and reject duplicate or replayed transmissions, thereby preventing denial of service attacks that exploit the covert nature of spread spectrum communications
2Reliability
If high processing gain is used to spread transmitter power below noise level, then the signal becomes harder to detect without pseudonoise code knowledge, but synchronization accuracy requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the transmission structure into distinct components: a synchronization preamble for coarse timing acquisition and a burst number field for precise identification. This segmentation allows the system to meet high synchronization accuracy requirements through the preamble while using the burst number for definitive transmission validation
3Reliability
If the receiver processes all received bursts to ensure no valid communications are missed, then communication reliability is maintained, but hardware and software resources are exhausted during denial of service attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - the burst number field - that acts as a mediator between received transmissions and resource-intensive processing. The receiver first extracts and compares burst numbers as a low-cost preliminary check, only proceeding to full signal processing when the burst number is valid and unique, thereby preventing resource exhaustion during attacks
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method is disclosed for protecting a receiver configured to receive a plurality of contemporaneous spread spectrum signal bursts from a denial of service attack. The method includes the operation of detecting a burst transmission that includes a random burst number. The burst transmission can be analyzed to determine a denial of service statistic based on the random burst number. The burst transmission is processed when the denial of service statistic is within a predetermined threshold.