In recent years, many aircraft communication systems have been analysed by security researchers. Due to their lack of authentication and cryptographic protection they have all been found lacking in the security department. [2]

Concretely, in 2023, large-scale attacks on GNSS systems have been reported to affect civil aviation aircraft in many regions [3,4] These have also been affecting Swiss aircraft flying to Asia [5]. Due to these renewed unreliablity of GNSS as a navigation system, older, redundant systems such as the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) have a resurgence in aviation.

The goal of this project is to build a software-defined radio based laboratory system for DME (based on existing work such as [1]) and conduct a first thorough security analysis of this important navigation aid. The work will look at the requirements of spoofing attacks and potential countermeasures.

Required Skills

  • Signal processing
  • Pro­gramming in Py­thon/C
  • Some fa­mi­li­a­ri­ty with software-defined radios

[1] https://hackaday.com/tag/distance-measuring-equipment/

[2] On Perception and Reality in Wireless Air Traffic Communication Security
M Strohmeier, M Schäfer, R Pinheiro, V Lenders, I Martinovic
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 18 (6), 1338-1357, 2017

[3] https://gpsjam.org

[4] http://spoofing.skai-data-services.com/

[5] Analysis of GNSS disruptions in European Airspace
M Felux, B Figuet, M Waltert, P Fol, M Strohmeier, X Olive
Proceedings of the 2023 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, 2023