Modular, Secure and Affordable Design for NextGen ADS-B Integration

PreTalen herein proposes the development of the Hardened ADS-B Protection System (HEAPS) which is a network of sensors that can detect spoofing attempts by ADS-B transmitters. ADS-B is an unsecured protocol and receivers do not have any way to determine if the ADS-B messages that they receive truly represents the status of the transmitting aircraft. A malicious actor could transmit ADS-B messages that indicate the presence of aircraft that do not exist or make aircraft appear to be in a falsified location. This can be accomplished using a low-cost software defined radio and software. HEAPS secures against these types of attacks by using physical characteristics of the waveform that cannot be spoofed to verify the contents of the message that has been received. Additionally, HEAPS leverages the capabilities of its software-defined radio hardware to provide dual frequency ADS-B Out capabilities as well.