Unmanned Vehicle Control System with Cryptographic Voting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned vehicles require robust and secure onboard control systems that can maintain functionality despite adverse environments, damage, and potential interference or subversion, with a need for continuous operation and resistance to malicious attacks.
Innovation Solution
A control system with multiple processing stages featuring message cryptography and voting cryptography units, providing modular redundancy and secure communication networks to validate and encrypt payload data, ensuring reliable and secure operation by detecting anomalies and minimizing the impact of subverted modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple processing modules with cryptography units are implemented, then security and reliability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is divided into multiple independent processing modules, each capable of autonomous cryptographic operations. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high reliability through redundancy while managing complexity by distributing functions across modular units rather than centralized complex logic
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple identical processing modules are deployed, each with the same cryptographic capabilities. These copies process data independently and their outputs are voted upon, providing fault tolerance without requiring each individual module to be more complex than the others
2Reliability
If voting logic with cryptography is applied to validate payload data, then security against subversion is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Cryptographic signatures are generated by each processing module before the voting process. This preliminary cryptographic validation allows the voting logic to operate on already-secured data, reducing the time required for security verification during the voting process itself
Solution Approach 2:
Traditional mechanical voting mechanisms are replaced with cryptographic verification. Instead of physically comparing data states, the system uses digital signatures and cryptographic protocols to validate payload authenticity, enabling faster verification suitable for real-time control applications
3Reliability
If modular redundancy is implemented in processing modules, then fault tolerance is improved, but system resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Modular redundancy is applied selectively to critical processing modules rather than uniformly across the entire system. This allows the system to achieve necessary fault tolerance for safety-critical functions while minimizing energy consumption in non-critical areas by using fewer redundant modules
Data Source
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AI summary
A control system (100) for an unmanned vehicle (10) includes a control processing unit (102) which receives input signals from one or more sensors (101) and supplies output signals to one or more actuators (103). Processing modules (110) are divided into a plurality of successively linked stages (120). In a first stage (120A), multiple processing modules (110) produce substantially equivalent payload data when operating correctly. Message cryptography units (140) generate cryptographically signed messages (800) containing the payload data. In a second stage, a voting cryptography unit (130) receives and examines the cryptographically signed messages, and applies voting logic to derive a validated payload data for use by the respective processing module (120) of the second stage. A control method is also described.