Fountain Code Enabled ADS-B for Aviation Security and Safety Enhancement

Automatic Dependence Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is transforming all aspects of aviation, including commercial aircraft and unmanned aerial systems (UAS). ADS-B service broadcasts traffic information and flight information to improve aviation safety and efficiency in the air and on runways, reduce costs, and lessen harmful effects on the environment. However, due to its broadcast nature, on one hand, ADS-B is vulnerable to malicious cybersecurity attacks relevant to broadcasting; on the other hand, broadcasting could be leveraged to further improve the safety of aviation. The objective of this paper is to investigate how to enhance aviation security and safety by leveraging the inherent broadcast property of ADS-B. To be specific, we propose two novel schemes for enhancing aviation cybersecurity and safety, respectively. The first scheme, motivated by the fact that fountain codes have been successfully applied in various broadcasting scenarios for ensuring the reliability, we propose to leverage Fountain Code to enhance the security of ADS-B. The second scheme, which is based on information integration, to detect collaboratively the comprehensive weather information to enhance the safety of aviation. The performance evaluation results demonstrate the feasibility of integrating fountain codes with ADS-B for encryption and the feasibility of collaborative detection to bypass turbulent weather conditions. To our knowledge, our work is the first attempt to apply fountain code to enhance aviation security and safety.