Secure I&C Communications in Nuclear Energy Systems

Protection of wireless sensor data from tampering and manipulation by adversaries is crucial for instrumentation and control I&C in nuclear power plants. Securing such data is a challenge as data encryption and authentication techniques are not readily implementable with limited computational resources at the sensor nodes. Also, key management and secure key exchange is a serious limitation for all data encryption and authentication techniques. This SBIR project offers an innovative secure dual channel wireless communications system with a novel dynamic authentication technique using dual channels for high security nuclear power plants data communications. This dual channel system allows for secure overtheair transfer of the encryption key. In Phase I, the proofofconcept of a dual channel wireless sensor communications that offers secure OTA key exchange was successfully designed, developed, and demonstrated in a nuclear facility. The proofof concept prototype was integrated with a temperature sensor and had a communications range of 30 ft. Phase II will advance the proofofconcept secure wireless communication for 1 Enhanced security with digital signatures and certificates with transport layer security TLS on top the proposed dualchannel key exchange; 2 Longer communications range of 300 ft. as well as 3 Throughthecontainmentwall secure data transfer. The Phase II system will have a universal sensor interface for plugandplay integration with userdefined suite of sensors. The system will go under extensive field testing for performance evaluation in representative facilities, and its electronics will be tested for radiation exposure and will be radiation hardened. The system will be fully packaged for ruggedization and field hardening with enduser needs and requirements. The final system will be manufactured with low volumes for demonstrationbased marketing and enduser evaluations. The use of ultrasecure data encryption and authentication system in a wireless framework is of interest to DOE, DOD, DHS, and DOT programs, i.e., intelligence and DHS. The enabling technology will allow widespread acceptance of smart critical infrastructures such as monitoring in plants and other urban infrastructure monitoring applications. This dual channel data authentication method will benefit commercial internetofthings IOT driven applications to reduce cybersecurity risks of sensitive data such as data from smart energy meters in smart cities, environmental sensor data in chemical plants, temperature sensor data from medical fridges for safety of medicine and vaccine storage to name a few.