Utilizing the Messaging Layer Security Protocol in a Lossy Communications Aerial Swarm

Abstract

Recent advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities have led to increasing research into swarming systems. Unfortunately, efforts to date have not resulted in viable secure communications frameworks, and the limited processing power and constrained networking environments that characterize these systems preclude the use of many existing secure group communications protocols. The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, currently under development at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), offers some attractive properties for these types of systems. This work looks at integrating MLS into the Advanced Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory (ARSENL) UAV swarm system as a means of assessing its efficacy. Implementation test results are presented both for experiments conducted in a simulation environment and with physical UAVs.