An Implementation-Based Study of the Detection of and Recovery from GPS Spoofing Attacks for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Year 2024, Volume: 36 Issue: 3, 211 - 223, 26.09.2024

Lina Al- Soufi , Talha Demirsoy , Ece Gelal Soyak

https://doi.org/10.7240/jeps.1459595

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are expected to be a critical component for logistics, agriculture, defense and enabling connectivity for post-5G communications. The utilization of drones in diverse sectors raises concerns about their vulnerability to potential attacks that disrupt or obstruct their operational mechanisms. In this work, we first demonstrate how navigation attacks can compromise a drone’s system, using GPS jamming and spoofing attacks via HackRF One PortaPack Software Defined Radio (SDR) device. Next, we propose a mechanism called “Return-to-Start”, which can protect a drone from loss by responding promptly to such widely spread navigational attacks. We evaluate the effectiveness of our solution through experiments on a Raspberry Pi-based drone we developed. Our experiments validate the robustness of Return-to-Start functionality in a variety of attack scenarios with different durations and GPS geolocations.

Keywords

Drone, UAV, GPS spoofing, GPS jamming, Software Defined Radio (SDR)

İnsansız Hava Araçları için GPS Spoofing Saldırılarının Tespiti ve Kurtarılması Üzerine Uygulama Tabanlı Bir Çalışma

Abstract

İnsansız Hava Araçlarının (İHA) lojistik, tarım, savunma ve 5G sonrası iletişim için bağlantıyı mümkün kılan kritik bir bileşen olması beklenmektedir. İHA'ların farklı sektörlerde kullanılması, operasyonel mekanizmalarını bozan veya engelleyen potansiyel saldırılara karşı savunmasızlıkları konusunda endişelere yol açmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, ilk olarak HackRF One PortaPack Yazılım Tanımlı Radyo (SDR) cihazı aracılığıyla GPS karıştırma ve sahtekarlık saldırılarını kullanarak navigasyon saldırılarının bir drone'un sistemini nasıl tehlikeye atabileceğini gösteriyoruz. Ardından, bu tür yaygın navigasyon saldırılarına anında yanıt vererek bir drone'u kayıplardan koruyabilen "Başlangıca Dönüş" adlı bir mekanizma öneriyoruz. Çözümümüzün etkinliğini, geliştirdiğimiz Raspberry Pi tabanlı bir drone üzerinde yaptığımız deneylerle değerlendiriyoruz. Deneylerimiz, farklı sürelere ve GPS coğrafi konumlarına sahip çeşitli saldırı senaryolarında Return-to-Start işlevselliğinin sağlamlığını doğrulamaktadır.

Keywords

GPS sahtekarlığı, GPS karıştırma, Yazılım Tanımlı Radyo (SDR), insansız hava araçları

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