An Approach Utilizing a Random Keystream Generator to Enhance the Security of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' (UAVs) capability to respond to people's needs accounts for their pervasiveness. UAVs with extended functions and capabilities when supplied with communication equipment can be deployed to appropriate places in the field to supplement the networks operate more efficiently and in vital missions such as infrastructure monitoring operations. To be effective, an UAV must interact securely with its network's entities, such as ground control stations, other UAVs, air traffic control systems, and navigation satellite systems. UAVs are exposed to a dangerous and costly world of cyber dangers as a result of cyber technology and connections. The UAV and the Ground Control Station (GCS) exchange information using communication lines, which are vulnerable to cyber attacks. The Micro Air Vehicle Link (MAVLink) protocol is a widely used lightweight communication protocol for enabling communication between UAVs and GCSs. It carries information about the UAV's condition as well as commands for control from the GCS. Although widely used, the MAVLink protocol lacks sufficient security measures and is susceptible to various types of attacks. In the current study, a new stream cipher method with low duty cycles is proposed for protecting data in UAVs and is compared with existing security algorithms on basis of various factors. The research findings' show that by including the suggested method into MAVLink, it is possible to maintain both message secrecy and battery life for a resource-constrained UAV.