Virtual closed networks: optimised security for autonomous MANETs

Autonomous mobile platforms (such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, also known as UAVs) have become a popular tool in exploration, disaster management, civil-engineering, agricultural and military scenarios. Their endurance, low-cost, high mobility and ability to reduce human involvement in prolonged or hazardous activities have proven attractive to both commercial and military sectors. In such domains, security is required to protect the data, functionality and performance of the network, making it a vital consideration when developing such systems. Systems capable of independent action, following a human-defined mission without scripting or other forms of direction in the field, are adaptable and effective as a means of achieving individually simple tasks that due to their number and distribution represent complex objectives as a collective. However, such systems must communicate to achieve autonomous function. Efficient distribution of tasks requires significant communication between all members of the network to determine the nodes most fit to undertake a given task. Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) provide the foundation for such communication, providing a means by which nodes may communicate with other members of the network, even if they are not in range. Issues arise when considering the security of MANET communication, due to the ease observation, interception and manipulation of data broadcast over such networks. It is trivial for attackers to perform such actions, due to the open nature of the communication medium. This dissertation presents a novel security framework, which specifically targets autonomous MANET communication. Addressing the open-medium problem by providing a Virtual Closed Network (VCN) environment, Security Using Pre-Existing Routing for MANETs (SUPERMAN) also secures routing and control data, providing confidentiality, integrity and authentication services as a complete solution the network layer and above. Improvements to the efficiency of communication required by distributed task allocation are proposed (Cluster Form CBBA and Broadcast Enabled Cluster Form CBBA) based on this work, in the interests of optimising the use of network resources to facilitate the addition of robust security measures suitable for resource constrained MANETs.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Greenwich

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Hurley-Smith, Darren

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wetherall, Jodie

• Q Science (General)
• TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)

Language dc:language

en