NSF REU:
Cybersecurity Research of UAVs

I am the Co-PI for the ERAU's NSF REU Site: Cybersecurity Research of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The site integrates fundamental and state-of-the-art cybersecurity research using UAVs as the platform. Research activities in this site explore the cybersecurity of UAVs from multiple angles, including secure communication, data privacy protection, secure control systems for autonomous UAVs, etc. By conducting diverse but coherent research projects, participants will gain the in-depth understanding and hands-on experience in cybersecurity research for UAVs, as well as general computer and data security.

I participated as a mentor in this REU Site before in 2020 Summer. In the particular project that I mentored, I had the chance to work with three students from different parts of the country (California, New York, Puerto Rico) on a distributed UAV swarming model, in which the goal is the achievement of consensus in the positioning of the whole swarm. Collision avoidance is achieved via a repelling and attracting force functions. The main objective of the project was to investigate the effect of link loses on the swarming algorithm and the physical reaction of the swarm in the case of a compromised node. The students implemented the positioning protocol in agent-based simulation and demonstrated how the swarm would behave in case of a compromised UAV. They also showed a preliminary communication scheme for possible extension of the protocol within the same agent based simulator. You can see a short video about the project below.

For more information: ERAU NSF REU Site.