Grant: Alliance Grants

The aim of this project is to provide a new generation of innovative and advanced domain-specific cybersecurity and cyber defence measures for aircraft. The research will employ Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as knowledge representation techniques (ontologies) and Machine Learning (ML) approaches to address the security of current and future aircraft system architectures, and ensure the continued airworthiness of the aircraft while accounting for new and evolving cyber threats. The research team will be led by Polytechnique and will involve members from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Queen's University. The industrial partners include various cross-sectoral members from the aerospace industry (Bombardier and Collins Aerospace) and from the cybersecurity industry with previous experience in aviation (RHEA Group, Carillon and QoHash). The project comprises two themes. Theme 1 focuses on the cybersecurity of existing aircraft and will produce prototypes of security counter-measures that could be deployed on existing aircraft. These prototypes will be tested in proof-of-concept experiments conducted in a suitable co-emulation environment with the presence of humans, i.e. pilots and air traffic controllers. Theme 2 addresses the security of future aircraft. The research will first focus on studying the risks related to the use of novel and unusual design features and the adoption of future modes of operation in aviation, notably Reduced Crew Operations (RCO) and Single Pilot Operations (SPO). Theme 2 will produce a holistic risk assessments for future operational modes, a prototype for intrusion detection system in new architectures and a concrete methodology for cybersecurity evaluation and certification of future aircraft.