Secure Plant Operations Data Network

From a technical perspective, providing secure and reliable wireless communication in a plant setting presents an array of challenges. In particular, there are difficult engineering trades that must be made between probability of signal detection and interception, against reliability of signal transmission and associated issues such as localization. As there are no existing off-the-shelf waveforms that satisfy the stated system requirements Toyon proposes to develop a software defined radio (SDR) waveform that incorporates a range of state-of-the-art features. While ultawideband is an appealing technology due to its low probability of detection, its limited range and susceptibility to interface precludes its use for this effort. Instead, Toyon will base our system on direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS), using cyclic code shift keying (CCSK) as the spreading waveform to minimize probability of interception and detection. 256-bit AES encryption with public key sharing will be employed, making it virtually impossible to intercept data from system communications. Time-of-flight estimation from the wireless physical layer will be used for localization. Providing a complete system, Toyon’s SDR platform will be used for Phase I demonstration. The platform is well suited to custom application layer development, such as voice-over-IP, voice-to-text translation, and bridging to WLANs.