Development and testing of an intrusion detection system for unmanned aerial systems

This paper discusses the development, testing and prospective use of an intrusion detection system (IDS) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and systems (UASs). Intrusion detection systems are typically used in computer networking and other applications to detect and respond to attempts to compromise computers, servers, firewalls and other network resources. In the context of the development of an IDS for UAV/UAS applications, several topics are considered. These include what an IDS is and how it is used, why do UAVs/UASs need an IDS and attack detection expectations for IDSs used in UAV/UAS applications. Because UAVs and UASs operate in the real world, with numerous and varied sensory inputs, testing and validation of these systems is particularly problematic. IDS Training challenges and the use of automated training to validate UAV/UAS IDS systems is, thus, a major consideration and also covered. The use of adaptive testing, in particular, is discussed.