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

As part of an ongoing effort to modernize the air traffic control (ATC) system, the FAA is requiring aircraft to become compliant with the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) doctrine, which adopts new methodology for ATC wireless communications. The NexGen design offers more precise air traffic monitoring at an affordable cost compared to traditional radar-based systems.One of the key requirements of the NextGen transformation is that aircraft support the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) protocol, a wireless protocol for broadcasting position, velocity, identification and other information for reception by ground stations and aircraft. ADS-B does not make use of encryption or authentication which exposes it to spoofing and eavesdropping attacks. These attacks can be conducted from malicious ground stations or aircraft in flight using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software-defined radio equipment.Using a novel approach described herein, PreTalen proposes a system (Hardened Electronic ADS-B Protection System - HEAPS) that will protect against attempts to send false position or velocity information in ADS-B transmissions. Our algorithms are based on signal characteristics that are unable to be spoofed by sophisticated adversaries. The approach also works on the existing ADS-B protocol and requires no changes to the standard or transmitters.